Carlos Tevez may have won the Premier League three times, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the League Cup but, at 29, the question was whether he could rediscover his best form in Italy.
Tevez joined Juventus for a initial transfer fee of £10million in the summer after his Manchester City career stagnated, with the move to Serie A representing fresh hope that he could rekindle the fire that fuelled Manchester United’s glittering successes between 2007 and 2009.
With the Red Devils, Tevez won the Premier League twice in as many seasons. The initial triumph, in 2008, was made even more special when United went on to lift the Champions League for the first time in nine years – a memorable penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea in Moscow.
In his five games for Juve he has scored three times seemingly revelling at the apex of the Old Lady’s starting XI, a different role to the one played at both City and United.
Juventus still have plenty of options in attack but Tevez appears to relish the challenge of keeping his place in the side with the likes of Fernando Llorente, Fabio Quagliarella, and Mirko Vucinic all competing for starting roles.
He has lost weight, he plays with a renewed determination; keen to demonstrate he is still one of the game’s greatest strikers.
Last season Juventus won the Serie A title for the 29th time beating second placed Napoli by nine points. Nevertheless, Napoli actually netted more times in the league last season than their rivals. It was Juventus’ tight defence that was a major factor in their title triumph. They only let in 24 league goals, averaging less than a goal every game.
With Tevez’s addition, Juventus should be able to compete in an attacking sense with Napoli and Florentina. Florentina may have only finished fourth but even Vincenzo Montella’s side scored more goals than Juventus last campaign.
If Tevez hits top form for Juve, he may catch the eye of Alejandro Sabella and be in contention for a recall to the Argentina squad. He last played for his country in 2011.
The move to Turin already appears to be paying dividends for the player and he will undoubtedly score goals for the title holders and, if they keep their defence as tight as it was last season, Juventus will be a force to be reckoned with for some time to come.
