Melo’s Official Presentation

By: roberto | July 22nd, 2009

Arrigo Sacchi took the damn words right out of my mouth…

“Juve have plenty of tireless midfielders. Aggressive players who have stamina and can fight for the ball,” said Sacchi. “However, they are lacking when it comes to building up the game. Their [Juventus] ball possession has always been a weak point because there isn’t much harmony in their tempo. D’Agostino would have provided them with that. Melo is a better overall player but he seems like a stronger copy of some of their current midfielders.” C4

Personally, I think Felipe’s €25 million price tag is about €5-7 million too high. Now some of us could sit here and argue that, however the fact remains, Melo joins a long list of combative midfielders who are just slightly better than Arrigo described. While it would have been nice to sign D’Agostino for a little more “harmony in our tempo”, and truth be told he was considered ahead of the Brazilian midfielder, nonetheless Udinese wanted simply too much for their breakout 30 year old regista.

The Brazilian was presented officially during a press conference today, Wednesday 22nd July, at the Juventus Media Center in Vinovo. The conference was transmitted live on the Juventus Channel and here are some excerpts from the newest Bianconero:

“I am not scared of Inter. It is a big club but so is Juve and if we all work together I am sure we can reach great goals”. He defines his move to Juventus as a leap in quality: “I think the fact that the club did a rather big financial effort to sign me, this makes me feel good. I am happy to have reached this level and now I will work hard to win the championship and the Champions League.”

“I think it is more important to win rather then to be specatacular. I played in great teams which were spectacular but did not win anything and in others were we weren’t specatcular but we won because we were united. We must be united like a family and work as a team so as to obtain our objectives.”

“The Brazilian national team? I am now at Juventus. I will work hard for Juventus because this club must always be at the top. I will work hard and then if I do well the Brazilian national team call-up will come as it has in the past but I am a Juve player and I will work hard to be worthy.”

“We must all work hard. With or without Diego or Melo, Juve are strong and so we must work hard and be united to be as strong as possible. I can’t wait to be in the dressing rooms, speak with the other players and get to know them. I once played against Sissoko in Spain and now I am really curious to speak to him and play by his side.”

“Last year I was shown quite a few cards. It was my first year in Italy and this could have been the reason since in 4 years in Spain I only got shown one red card. Now I know the methods of the referees here in Italy and even though as a midfielder I am bound to be shown cards I will definitely be more careful and shown less cards.”

“I came here because Juventus is a club that can win anything. All we have to do is work hard. If we work hard and do so well the scudetto will be a bit closer.”

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IERI… OGGI… DOMANI… SEMPRE JUVE!!!

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Category: Blanc, Coach, Competitions, Management, Melo, Players, Serie A, Team News

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roberto

Hahah Dan I thought waking up at 8am over here in Toronto was bad...

I'm gonna put up something before today's game against Sevilla with a couple links for those of you watching it.
Dan

Ahh sam, as a fellow melbourne boy, the game is bright and early at 6:30am for us. the joys of following european soccer from the ass end of the world...
Pablo

I think one of the main problems we have agreeing who is gonna play where, is that no one have the same criteria regarding positions. We've seen that with the discussion last season about trequartista's role and ADP. Now I think people doesn't really get the idea of a regista (maybe I'm one of those). I know this is an english forum, but as a reference here you have 2 articles in spanish written by the espn "expert" in Italian football.

Trequartista:
http://espndeportes.espn.go.co...

Regista:
http://espndeportes.espn.go.co...
Ivo

Sam, if you go to livescore.com, they tell you the time difference of the moment you are at the site to the moment it starts. I find it very useful.

Unfortunately I have to work while the game is on tonight. Can anyone please post or find a torrent of it after the match or tomorrow? I would really like to watch it. Thanks
Sam

actually its alright, same time diff bettwen aus and turin, and aus and sevilla.
Sam

*time
Sam

Any ideas on wat ime the Sevilla- Juventus match is on, Melbourne, Australia time? Im confused, whether the time on the Juventus site is Italian or Spanish time for kick-off.
agiamba

I don't think Marchisio has the natural vision to be a great regista, but moreso I'd rather him not too. Being a regista would confine his growth, he's the all around CM, capable of playing anywhere on the pitch. Playing regista, while a very difficult position, would limit his impact offensively. (at least in a direct manner)
Armando

My prediction is that Marchisio is gonna turn into a great regista. He showed glimpses of it in the last two games of the season, grabbing a nice assist and a goal. If he can keep that up, then we'd have a perfect midfield: A hard-hitting defensive mid (Sissoko), a regista (Marchisio), a box-to-box midfielder (Melo), and a trequartista (Diego). Plus with two attacking midfielders (Camo and Tiago), plus a trequartista (Giovinco), and a great central midfielder (Zanetti) on the bench, we'd be fine. And by the way, with Sissoko and Melo pretty much guaranteed to get those starting spots in the 3-man midfield, i would much rather have Marchisio or Camo then Tiago.

Overall, i think we should sign Caceres, and see how he works as a wingback. Even without him though, we still have Brazzo whose quality, and De Ceglie whose a future star. They just need to be played more, instead of Grygera and Molinaro.

This is how we should play this upcoming season:

------------------------Buffon
Salihamidzic--Legrottaglie--Chiellini--De Ceglie
-----------Marchisio----Sissoko----Melo
------------------------Diego
-----------------Del Piero--Amauri
Pablo

Yeah, I have my fingers crossed for Tiago, although he already said he likes to push forward without caring that much for the defensive part of the job. Anyway, he might rise some eyebrows.
agiamba

Maybe Tiago can prove to be the regista we needed in the 3-man midfield.
Rinaldo

Our defense is the only reason I consider Inter the favorites to win the Scuedtto - even if we do get Caceres.
Nnahoj

I think most of you will be surprised at Melo's skill and passing ability. He's a bit rough around the edges, but he can be that player for us.
agiamba

"“As a matter of fact, I want to thank him [Marco Marchionni] and Olof Mellberg for the professionalism they have shown during their stay.”

Little shoutout from Secco.
agiamba

I still think it'll hurt us. When Pirlo was off form (basically the last two years) the game-plan against Milan was simple; mark Kaka out, and their attack breaks down. That's why I don't like the idea of most of our creativity coming through one player. If we had a trequartista and a regista...well, like Barcelona, it'd be damn hard to stop.

Sam, maybe a brief one about the Peace cup but not much more. Re: Poulsen, I hope if we do indeed get rid of him, it's a sale despite his depressed value, and not a loan. We're not recuperating anything from Almiron's 2+ loans now, so why Poulsen and ours time?
eklavya

WOW your new jersey's are really funny :D
of course barca have pink jerseys haha
Ivo

Wait did Melo say anything about working hard? I must have missed it. :)

I don't know why you guys are so worried about our midfield. All the players we needed for midfield, we have.

We don't have any good defenders other than Chiellini. HOW DOES THAT NOT WORRY YOU? How is Juve going to get the scudetto when we always lose to shitty teams just because our defenders are not even worth guarding Livorno's attackers? We need Grosso, Zapata, Criscito, players that will be quality and consistent. If we start Grygera I might go over to Turin and kill myself in front of the Olimpico...
Marco P.

Arrigo wrote:
“Juve have plenty of tireless midfielders. Aggressive players who have stamina and can fight for the ball,” said Sacchi. “However, they are lacking when it comes to building up the game. Their [Juventus] ball possession has always been a weak point because there isn’t much harmony in their tempo. D’Agostino would have provided them with that. Melo is a better overall player but he seems like a stronger copy of some of their current midfielders.”

There's a serious fallacy in your argument, Mr. Sacchi. Up until now Juve's essentially been playing 4-4-2 wing-attack, so it's no wonder their central midfielders (Sissoko/Marchisio/Poulsen/C.Zanetti) haven't contributed much to creating plays.

With the new formation (4-3-1-2), we have Diego/Giovinco(and even ADP) to fill that trequartista role. ADP himself said he's willing to fill an unwanted position for his last run at professional soccer. So really, I don't think lack of central-mid creativity will be Juve's problem this year. Quit crying over D'Agostino already, and be happy at the quality defensive mid we bought in Felipe Melo!
Sam

"Poulsen and Almiron will not form part of the group but will remain in Turin to train." From the Juventus official website, so this should definatly mean Poulsen is gone, but where?
Sam

hey Alessio, any peace cup previews?
agiamba

I don't think we'd need to replace him. We've got a wealth of attacking talent, in a 4-4-2, I think yeah, 4 are necessary. But with Diego and Giovinco (and Daud and Immobile) I feel pretty comfortable.....if Amauri was out for a few months and ADP suspended, we could do a 4-3-2-1. Or make Gio play seconda punta.

That said, as I said in the departures section, Trez is gonna stay. Have faith.
mike

I hope Trez will stay another year, I would hate to see him signed by Milan. If he goes, we would need to replace him, but with whom?
Vincent

It would be very good for Italy if all the Italian Juve players have great seasons
Buffon, Canna, Leggro, Chiellini,Marchisio,Gio,ADP,Iaquinta,DeC,etc...
Michael

As an Arsenal fan this kind of pisses me off. We could have used the Adebayor money on him. He wanted to come to Arsenal too. Would have been a perfect fit for us. I think juventus regain the scudetto this year. It just seems like they are putting it together for something big this year.
HolyMann

Looking at the current Juve squad is getting me really excited for the new season....even though the Defensive department hasnt seen a new face (other than Cannavaro), with Ferrara on the bench, im not that worried
agiamba

Amauri's sending off was strange, we've never really seen him have temper issues before. I'm sure it was a one off.

Now for Melo.....I think we paid 15million too much for him, once everything's said and done. I would rate him around 14-15mil, probably the same as D'Agostino. (who is 27, only 1 year older than Melo, by the way) I'm sure if we had offered 28.5mil or so to Udinese, they would have accepted.