Pogba sale has primed Juventus for European success – Inzaghi

The sale of Paul Pogba has “completed” Juventus and primed them for Champions League glory, according to Filippo Inzaghi.

Pogba signed for Juve on a free transfer in 2012 and after four successive Scudetti returned to Manchester United in August in a world record transfer worth up to €110million.

Though the France international departed, the Turin club bolstered their squad with the additions of Gonzalo Higuain, Miralem Pjanic, Dani Alves and Medhi Benatia in the transfer window.

Inzaghi believes Juve’s movements in the market have put them in a better position to win the Champions League, having finished as runners-up in 2014-15 and exited at the last 16 stage in the previous campaign.

Asked who he felt would be in this year’s final, Inzaghi told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “Bayern-Juve. The Germans are very strong and [Carlo] Ancelotti is an exceptional coach, so I feel great affection for them. For Juve, meanwhile, the right year has come.

“Juve have only one problem – they have to win this time. They’ll feel a bit of pressure, because you need the whole team to win the Champions League.

“Now Juve have an attack which worries opponents and they’ve always had a good defence.

“The sense of the sale of Pogba is that the squad has been completed. Juve are now ready.

“The club did very well to sell Pogba and then reinforce the attack with Higuain, the midfield with Pjanic and the defence with Benatia who is strong indeed.”

Inzaghi joined Juve in 1997 and was a runner-up in the Champions League in his first season with the club, and his partnership with club icon Alessandro Del Piero has been compared to the pairing of Higuain and Paulo Dybala.

The 43-year-old says the Argentine duo need to win the Champions League this term if such comments are to be considered accurate, though.

“The two of them are outstanding, but Ale and I went to the final in our first year together,” Inzaghi added.

“If Higuain and Dybala want to be better then they have only one option: to win the trophy. It doesn’t just depend on them, though. The goals of the strikers are just as important as the defenders stopping them.”