Andrea Pirlo is expected to work immediately on beefing up Juventus' midfield capabilities. The newly appointed manager for Old Lady will reportedly hunt for top talents to fulfill his vision for the Turin club with Paul Pogba and Alexandre Lacazette on top of the Italian's hiring list.
Pogba starring again for Juventus and under Pirlo will be the ideal gift for the new coach, according to Luca Toni, who worked with the new Juve boss as a player.
Toni said he sees Pirlo reshaping the Juventus gameplay to his style, which is dominating the ball. To make this plan work, the new manager will require players in the mold of Pogba, whose spell at Juventus allowed him to partner with Pirlo on the pitch for three seasons.
"The ideal gift would be Pogba. I don't know if that's possible, but it would certainly be the best option," Metro reported Toni as saying.
However, the former striker has acknowledged that while Pogba had wanted to re-sign with Juventus in the past seasons, the transfer happening for the next term seemed impossible. Money is tight for most football clubs and the Italian giants are unlikely to spend big just to bring the Frenchman back to Turin.
What seemed more workable for Juventus is the acquisition of Lacazette from Arsenal. Talk Sport reported that Pirlo is looking to close a deal with the Premier League side on the French forward by offering three Juventus stars for Mikel Arteta to pick from.
The options for the Gunners boss include Gonzalo Higuain, Douglas Costa, and Cristian Romero, and it is believed that the latter will fit the requirements of Arteta.
The report added that Arsenal will likely sign on the deal as the team needs cash to fund the planned summer signings. Sending Lacazette to Italy will lead to better cash flow for the English side, which should give Arteta a bigger room for the renewal of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gabon international is set to sign a new deal with Arsenal and is expected to become the team's most expensive player. Offloading Lacazette will allow the Gunners to make an offer that Aubameyang will find difficult to resist.
Pirlo's plan for Lacazette is for the Frenchman to support Cristiano Ronaldo. The Italian boss wants Ronaldo to maximize his skill by taking possession of the ball as much as possible, which the signing of Lacazette will put into play.
These planned adjustments coming from Pirlo are not surprising at all as Toni reminded that the new Juventus boss is flexible and intelligent. He added that his former teammate learned from the best, namely Carlo Ancelotti and Max Allegri, who both coached Juventus in the past with Pirlo under them.
