New coach wants young Juve with ´winning mentality´

Coach Luigi Delneri wants to build a new Juventus team based on young players with a winning mentality ahead of the upcoming Italian season.

Juventus were due to play Lyon in a friendly on Saturday before beginning the serious business against Shamrock Rovers in the Europa League third qualifying round next Thursday.

And Delneri will be under the spotlight to see how he has turned around a team that last season crashed to their worst ever showing in Serie A, losing a club record number of games and conceding a record number of goals in a seventh-placed finish.

But the former Atalanta and Sampdoria coach’s plan is to put his faith in youth, just as the famous and successful Juve teams of the 1970s and 1980s did.

“I’m thinking about the Juve of (Marco) Tardelli, of (Massimo) Bonini, of (Antonio) Cabrini,” said Delneri.

“Of a club that chose young players but ones blessed with a winning mentality. We need to construct a team that is strong, that will last for a long time.”

One of the players Delneri is hoping will be a part of a successful future is one who was largely considered a flop in his first season at the club.

Brazil midfielder Felipe Melo arrived a year ago with a big reputation and a bigger price tag but was regularly jeered by fans, many of whom blamed him, his compatriot Diego and Italy World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro for the club’s poor showing.

Following that torrid campaign, Melo also suffered at the World Cup in South Africa, scoring an own goal and being sent off as Brazil crashed out to Holland in the quarter-finals.

But Delneri believes he will be able to get the best out of the former Fiorentina star.

“By convincing him that he’s an important player and convincing him to concentrate on regaining his form,” said Delneri, when asked how he would achieve his aims.

The new coach refused to set an objective for his team in the coming season, although he made it clear that they will be expecting to finish much higher than last time out.

“It could be finishing second or third but the final objective is irrelevant when there is one every Sunday,” he said.

“The objectives should be set every week because if you win your games then you’ll also win the title.”

However, to do so Delneri first wants to improve his squad, particularly in defence.

While the aging Cannavaro has left, Juve have brought in centre-back Leonardo Bonucci from Bari and right-back Marco Motta on loan from Udinese.

But that’s not enough for Delneri.

“Our priority is to see if there are top level players to improve our defence,” he said.

However he added: “But on the transfer front things have stalled.”

One area that Delneri seems to be happy with is his strike-force despite their goalscoring troubles last season.

“There we have five players: (Vincenzo) Iaquinta, Amauri, (David) Trezeguet, Diego and (club captain Alessandro) Del Piero,” he said.

“They’ve proved themselves to be five players of a high level and I don’t think any of them is in decline.

“On top of that they have the desire to be committed and to put themselves forward, so we’re on the right track.”