Andrea Cambiaso’s afternoon against Cremonese offered Juventus a small but revealing subplot: after a month out with an ankle problem, the wide player was asked to begin in central midfield, just in front of the defence. It was an experiment shaped by necessity, but also by a season in which Cambiaso needs to restore his place and influence.
Key takeaways
- Luciano Spalletti used Cambiaso as a deep-lying playmaker in a 4-2-3-1 during the friendly with Cremonese.
- The Juventus player was returning from around a month on the sidelines because of an ankle issue.
- Manuel Locatelli and Khephren Thuram remain unavailable, while Teun Koopmeiners, Sarr and Douglas Luiz were away on international duty.
- Weston McKennie was the only recognised midfielder available to Spalletti for the match.
- Cambiaso later moved into a more familiar attacking wide role after several younger players entered the game.
- Manchester City had explored Cambiaso’s situation in December 2025, but no suitable offer arrived during the following summer.
An emergency answer in midfield
The test against Cremonese did not produce a flawless performance, but it gave Cambiaso minutes, rhythm and increasing clarity as the match developed. Given his recent lay-off, that was the more relevant outcome than any definitive judgement on his suitability for the position.
Spalletti’s options were sharply restricted. Locatelli and Thuram are expected to be absent for some time, while Koopmeiners, Sarr and Douglas Luiz were not at Continassa because of the international break. McKennie, so often deployed across the pitch as a wide option or behind the forwards, was therefore the only established central midfielder at the coach’s disposal.
Against that backdrop, Cambiaso’s role in the middle can be read in two ways. It may become an occasional alternative for a player already accustomed to adapting, or it may simply have been a temporary response to a depleted group. He does not offer the same all-purpose coverage as McKennie: central defence and centre-forward are not realistic destinations for him. Yet the ability to operate in more than one area could still widen his importance to Spalletti.
The coach has already found encouraging results by using Celik on the left. Cambiaso’s return, meanwhile, may not automatically lead to uninterrupted starts in his usual position. In the second half of the Cremonese friendly, when a number of younger players came on, he was moved higher and wider, closer to the attacking-wing role he knows best.
The competitive season will provide the proper measure. A friendly is played at a different intensity and cannot settle whether Cambiaso can genuinely cover midfield in meaningful fixtures. For now, the evidence suggests that such a choice would be reserved for an injury or availability crisis rather than become Juventus’s regular plan.
A player looking for a new stretch of momentum
The midfield trial arrives after two difficult years for Cambiaso. There had been a far brighter beginning under Thiago Motta, when his form made him an important figure in Juventus’s plans. That standing was underlined in December 2025, when Manchester City sought an indication of the club’s valuation.
Juventus initially made clear that they did not intend to sell him at any price. By the middle of January, however, their position had become more open. City had already spent more than €150 million on Vitor Reis, Khusanov and Marmoush, with the Nico Gonzalez operation, valued at €60 million, still to be completed. The shifting circumstances meant Cambiaso remained in Turin.
His subsequent spell brought more lows than highs. Juventus would not have treated him as untouchable during the summer if an appropriate proposal had arrived, but none did. That lack of movement reflected a player whose standing had slipped after the promise of his earlier period.
Now Cambiaso’s task is less about defining one permanent position than about rebuilding trust through performances. Whether he is needed on the flank, in an attacking role or, in exceptional circumstances, at the base of midfield, Juventus need him to turn versatility into a convincing response on the pitch.
