With a host of players absent for various reasons, Juventus traveled to London for a test friendly against Arsenal. Max Allegri had to rely on an extremely young team en route to a 2-0 win over the Gunners.
While the squad included familiar young faces like Nicolò Fagioli, Fabio Miretti and Samuel Iling-Junior, the manager also pushed three lesser-known names into the starting lineup.
In his column for La Gazzetta dello Sport, Giuseppe Nigro offers a closer look at the young Juve trio.
The first is Tommaso Barbieri, a 20-year-old winger who started on the right wing. The Italian was arguably the most impressive Juventus player on the pitch yesterday.
The bianconeri signed him from Novara in 2020, beating the competition from Atlético de Madrid. He has already made 69 appearances in Serie C.
The second name is Enzo Barrenechea. The 20-year-old is a quintessential and combative Argentinian midfielder. He arrived at Juventus in the summer of 2020, but missed a year of development due to an ACL injury suffered in May 2021.
However, he managed to pick up where he left off and is now a mainstay for the Next Gen squad. He already made his senior debut as a late substitute against PSG in the Champions League.
But the most surprising inclusion had to be Alessandro Riccio. The 20-year-old defender had never been called up by the first team before the trip to London. However, he found himself in the starting lineup and produced a convincing display at the back.
The Italian has been part of the club’s youth system since the tender age of 14.
