Juventus resume their Europa League campaign in Vigo with Fernando Llorente watching closely, and the former Bianconeri striker sees the trip to Balaídos as more than a single European evening. For Llorente, who won Serie A titles under Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri, the challenge is part of a wider question around Luciano Spalletti’s side: can a rebuilt Juventus turn promising pieces into the consistency required to compete for trophies?
A familiar voice before the Vigo test
Llorente, who also lifted the Europa League with Unai Emery’s Sevilla, remains attached to Juventus and believes the club will face a Celta Vigo side that has changed considerably since last season. He recalled that Spalletti had wanted to bring him to Zenit during his time in Russia, adding that a centre-forward of his profile could still be useful to the current Juventus coach.
The Spaniard has his own European history against Juventus. His goal for Sevilla in the 2015-16 Champions League helped the Andalusian club remain in continental competition after dropping into the Europa League, which Sevilla then won. Yet Llorente said he was never fully clear on why Emery gave him limited minutes during that campaign.
He expects Celta to be a more difficult side to judge than the team that impressed across Spain last term. Claudio Giráldez’s squad, in Llorente’s view, have struggled following the summer departure of important players, including Fer López, who joined Wolverhampton Wanderers on loan.
- Iago Aspas remains Celta’s outstanding figure, according to Llorente. The forward is a club icon in Vigo and had spells at Liverpool and Sevilla, although he and Llorente did not overlap in Andalusia.
- Ferran Jutglà was identified as an attacker who contributes heavily to collective work.
- Williot Swedberg was another Celta player Juventus should monitor.
Goals, partnerships and Juventus expectations
Juventus arrive with Randal Kolo Muani encouraged by recent goals. After finding the net against NEC in the Europa League, the Frenchman also scored in the league at Cagliari. Llorente believes that breakthrough could prove significant, arguing that a striker’s confidence is inseparable from scoring.
Kolo Muani has suggested that he would benefit from support alongside him, with Nick Woltemade potentially offering a second central presence. Llorente understood the argument, while noting that his own Juventus partnership with Carlos Tevez offered a different level of established quality.
At 198cm, Woltemade is four centimetres taller than Llorente was as a player, but the former Spain international said the German must make fuller use of that frame if the pairing is to prosper. He wants Woltemade to hold possession more effectively and impose himself in physical contests, describing him as technically gifted but at times too slight in his approach.
- Llorente believes Kolo Muani and Woltemade can operate successfully together.
- He expects Kolo Muani’s season to gather momentum now that he has scored in Serie A as well as Europe.
- Although he does not regard the Frenchman as a natural high-volume scorer, Llorente thinks 20 goals across league and cup competitions are possible.
- For Juventus, he said, a forward who scores regularly is essential if the club are to challenge for silverware.
The discussion also touched on players who have moved on. Llorente called Dusan Vlahovic’s Juventus chapter finished and saw little value in revisiting it. He took a broader view of David’s revival at Atletico Madrid, where the former Juventus player is scoring after a difficult spell in Turin. Diego Simeone, he said, is an excellent coach rather than a magician; some players simply fit one environment and style better than another.
Spalletti’s season under the shadow of Juventus history
Juventus invested more than €10 million in the market and brought in 10 new signings, but Llorente feels the early-season picture is incomplete rather than disastrous. He pointed to points lost away from home, notably the defeat to Sassuolo and Sunday’s draw at Cagliari, while saying that the summer arrivals have been good players rather than a transformative figure of Tevez’s stature.
Conte’s name continues to circulate around Juventus because the coach is currently without a club and recently spoke of wanting to lead a side that had lost touch with its own history and needed to rediscover it. Llorente immediately associated those words with Juventus, the club Conte supports.
He feels a return could happen eventually and described Conte as an ideal Juventus coach. In his own career, Llorente placed Conte and Carlo Ancelotti above the other managers he worked under.
For now, however, he does not think Conte’s availability should distract Spalletti. His view is that Spalletti, a coach with experience and major honours, will be focused on improving his present squad rather than on an absent rival.
- Spalletti should target Europa League success, in Llorente’s opinion.
- Juventus must also remain in contention near the top of Serie A.
- Expectations are inevitably high in Turin, but Llorente acknowledged that recent seasons have been difficult for the club.
The players Llorente expects to matter in Spain
For the match at Balaídos, Llorente sees Francisco Conceição’s ability to beat opponents as a potential difference-maker. He also believes Alajbegovic and Nico possess the individual quality to settle a match with a single decisive moment.
His personal preference, though, is Weston McKennie. Llorente sees elements of Arturo Vidal in the American’s willingness to run, recover and contribute goals, even if he was clear that the comparison has limits. Vidal, he said, belonged in another category.
Llorente recalled Vidal as an extraordinary teammate whose preparation did not resemble the meticulous professionalism of Giorgio Chiellini or Claudio Marchisio. Even when he arrived tired, Llorente said, Vidal would train at a level beyond everyone else. In his assessment, a player with Vidal’s force of personality and performance would be enough to move Juventus much closer to winning again.
