Juventus release four players from their first-team squad

Chirayu Parmar July 14, 2023

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Juventus 'release' four players from first-team squad — Image Courtesy: Twitter

Juventus release four players from their first-team squad, Leonardo Bonucci, Arthur Melo, Weston McKennie and Denis Zakaria. All these players have been removed by Juve from their project and are available for sale.

Newly appointed director, Cristiano Giuntoli, has joined the Italian side after winning the Serie A with Napoli. He has already dropped a bomb on four first-team players.

Juventus want Leonardo Bonucci out. The message was very clear from new director Giuntoli to Bonucci during the meeting on Thursday. ⚪️⚫️🚫

OM are not interested despite recent reports.

🚨 Bonucci, McKennie, Zakaria, Arthur Melo are OUT of the project & available for sale. pic.twitter.com/xNoGyc1gAb
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 14, 2023

Leonardo Bonucci

In a meeting, Giuntoli told Bonucci that he is not in Juventus’ plans for the next season. Moreover, this was a surprise for the 36-year-old defender. He has played almost 500 games for the Bianconeri.

Olympique Marseille are not looking to sign him, but he has two more options other than that. Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe wants a defender like him for his team. The second club that Bonucci would be willing to join is Serie B side Sampdoria, coached by former Juve teammate and manager Andrea Pirlo.

Arthur Melo

The Brazilian midfielder was compared to Xavi and Iniesta, when he was at Barcelona. However, everything changed in 2020 when he joined Juventus in a swap deal involving Miralem Pjanic. Arthur was not given enough chances and was loaned out to Liverpool in 2022.

Arthur is still 26 years old, and several clubs want to sign him. Fiorentina have shown interest in him this summer.

Weston McKennie

The USMNT midfielder has also been told that he is not part of the project. McKennie joined Juve in 2020 on a loan deal from Schalke. The Italian club made the move permanent in 2021.

McKennie has scored 13 goals in 96 combined appearances and has won the SuperCoppa Italiana and Coppa Italiana. He joined Leeds United on loan in January and made 20 appearances.

Although he is out of the Italian club’s project, but the midfielder will remain a key player for his national side.

Denis Zakaria

The Bianconeri signed Denis Zakaria from Borussia Mönchengladbach in January 2022. However, a move to Juventus was not good for the midfielder he moved to Chelsea on loan in the following year.

Juventus also added a buy option of £27 million for the Swiss player, but Chelsea had no interest in triggering the buy clause. He returned to Juventus this summer. West Ham United are looking to sign him on loan as a replacement for Declan Rice.

Juventus are also leaving the European Super League (ESL). After points deduction in Serie A, and not qualifying in the Champions League have turned their situation around, they decided to leave the Super League.