Comolli on Tudor’s sacking, Spalletti’s contract and Juventus’ ‘decisional process’
Juventus General Manager Damien Comolli explains that all club directors and the ownership agreed that the team needed a new coach and reveals they are in a ‘shortlist phase’ to appoint the new sporting director.
Comolli joined new Juventus coach Luciano Spalletti for his unveiling press conference on Friday.
The French director introduced Spalletti and answered questions from the media.
“My Italian hasn’t improved much, so I apologise. Welcome to the unveiling press conference of our coach, Luciano Spalletti. We are glad to welcome him for many reasons. Naturally, he is a great expert on Italian football; you know his career, which has been successful in different clubs and environments,” Comolli said.
“He’s a person who can bring forward the football brand. We have agreed to a contract until the end of the season with an option to extend. What we discussed with Luciano is that the option, the agreement, is a potential long-term collaboration. Luciano and I understood that this is the right approach. During the season, we can sit down and decide how to continue.”
It was believed that Spalletti would sign a contract with automatic extension to 2027 if he had qualified for the Champions League this season, but this is not the case, as Juventus will decide whether to activate the option at the end of the campaign regardless of the final placement.
“It’s an option [to extend] for one season until 2026-27. As the coach and I already said, it’s not something on paper; it depends on how the collaboration goes. It’s more about the spirit of collaboration,” Comolli said.
“We hired Spalletti for what he achieved in the past; the playing style is important too. How did we make this decision? Giorgio [Chiellini], François [Modesto] and I are in constant dialogue with the owners. We felt the team needed a new coach, and we unanimously decided that Spalletti was the perfect candidate to continue this adventure. The fact that all three and the owners were on the same page was crucial in the decisional process. There’s not one centimetre of distance between us in the decisional process.”
Comolli also said Juventus are finalising the search for a new sporting director. Football Italia reported earlier today that Marco Ottolini was among the top candidates.
“The search for a sporting director is still ongoing,” said Comolli.
“We are already in a shortlist phase, we are reaching our target, and we’ll actively tell you the updates when they are available.”
Do Juventus already have a strategy for the winter transfer window now that they have hired a new coach?
“It’s one of the things we discussed when we met Luciano on Monday. There’s no specific plan,” Comolli replied.
“We’ll see if there are opportunities. If somebody leaves, we’ll replace him, but currently we are not thinking about acquiring new players.
“I’m relaxed regarding new [summer] signings and I am confident. We signed excellent players; they need time to settle, but we are happy to see how they are performing. We have options for some of these players. Let’s discuss it again in 12 or 18 months. Luciano and I have been in football for 33 years. I’ve seen anything in football. The coach is right when he says they need time, but I’m confident about the quality of our new players. I won’t lose sleep over new acquisitions. Perhaps I lost sleep over the team’s performances. I used to, now I have confidence in Luciano.”
Comolli opens up about Tudor’s sacking and Spalletti’s appointment
Comolli insisted that he had never spoken to Spalletti before Monday.
“Not at all. When I arrived in June, it was clear that Tudor would be the coach, and we also extended his contract. This is what we thought about in June.
“When us three, on Sunday night, decided to make a change, we contacted Luciano for the first time. We met for the first time at lunchtime on Monday. I can guarantee we had never discussed before. On Tuesday, we prepared the contract, and he arrived on Thursday morning. It was a fluid process; we did everything in three days.”
Lastly, Comolli explained the main reason why Juventus sacked Tudor earlier this week.
“Results. Lack of results. It’s simple,” he concluded.
“At some point, we thought this cycle had to end. It always depends on results. The main thing is that there were negative results. The team had not performed in the best way, and I said it clearly to him on Monday. This is why we made the change on Monday and hired a new coach. I think Spalletti was the best option.”