Why Juventus should hope the Higauin transfer is solely judged by their performances in Europe

I always find it fascinating to ponder the way we judge certain things in life. The importance that we give to the context in which certain events take place, as well as the perception and background of different people looking at the same set of circumstances can go such a long way in creating a big diversion of opinions. I was thinking about this recently when I looked at the replies when I tweeted that Gonzalo Higuian’s transfer to Juventus will ultimately solely be judged on how the bianconeri do in the Champions League.

The negative reaction from some people reminded of fact that just one year ago I was getting similar replies when I stated that Higuain was not only the best striker in Italy- he was clearly the best player in Serie A at least to me (mind you I consider anyone’s opinion to be equally valid to mine, I do not have a monopoly on the truth). There’s no doubt that Higuain has been excellent in his first season on Allegri’s squad, as my friend Adam Digby recently pointed out he’s first player since John Charles and Omar Sivori to score over 20 goals in their first season at Juventus, but fair or unfair for many people that won’t really matter.



But this isn’t the first time that Higuain has matched or beaten a historic record. While Charles and Sivori’s record dates back to the 1957/58 season (they were like the old school version of Alex Del Piero and David Trezeguet) the Pipita had just made Serie A history by breaking Gunnar Nordhal’s sixty six year old scoring record while playing for Napoli the previous season. But to me Higuain’s contributions to Napoli went beyond just scoring, he was the key piece in Sarri’s incredibly entertaining system which made the partenopei into the most fun team to watch in Italy probably dating back to Sacchi’s Milan.

Aside from his very impressive scoring average in Serie A in his first season in Torino, the two goals at the San Paolo against his former team were very special for Higuain- especially when you consider there was so much tension and drama surrounding his return to Napoli that Juventus’ team bus needed a police escort of over fifteen cars. But to me all these things should be seen as a great development because it gives Higuain and Juventus great momentum for the competition in which his transfer will be ultimately judged- and when you look at Juve’s ambition to develop their brand internationally, they probably shouldn’t want it any other way.



This is where the context is so important- prior to exercising the buy out clause in Higuain’s contract, Juventus had won the previous five Serie A titles- during most of these seasons Juventus was never seriously challenged- it’s not outrageous to suggest that most people would agree Juventus didn’t need to acquire him to win a sixth title in a row, especially at a time when both Milan and Inter are still trying to get back to their previous levels.

​While Higuain is the best pure number nine Juventus has had since David Trezeguet, last season their striker duo of Dybala and Mandzukic were so good that Alvaro Morata had essentially became a backup on Allegri’s squad- they could have most likely won the title in Italy this season with them leading the attack. But Marotta and Paratici looked at the recent winners of the Champions League, and almost all of them featured at least one great central striker who could provide consistent scoring. Higuain himself recently stated that he came to Turin to win the Champions League, while Del Piero stated that the Argentine move to the bianconeri to win trophies rather than score goals.



The challenge for Juventus than became finding a great number nine willing to play in Serie A- in order to do so Paratici and Marotta had to do two things that were unprecedented in their administration in Turin- spend a small fortune on an older player than their previous big investments (Bonucci, Dybala, Alex Sandro to name a few) and considerably increase the wages of their top player- Higuain was offered around 7 million euro net of taxes, at least 2 million more than their previous top players.

This will of course have the domino effect of raising the financial expectations of the likes of Paulo Dybala, Leonardo Bonucci, Alex Sandro and Sami Khedira- Juventus will set themselves apart even more from other Serie A teams unless Inter can attract big names despite the lack of Champions League and Milan is finally (and thankfully) sold to Chinese investors.



To me all these factors provide the context of the Higuain transfer and why it must be judged by how the bianconeri perform in Europe.  Juventus was in my opinion going all in to win a Champions League before Buffon retires while also raising the profile of the Juventus brand outside of Italy- we saw more of this when the club released their new logo as well as their streaming service for their international fans.

It would be the ultimate redemption for a club that in Europe is known more for losing Champions League final to lift the trophy in Cardiff thanks to goals scored by a player known by many for falling short in big matches, the road to do so now must go through Messi.