Antonio Conte’s Juventus Return Is Possible, And Would Be Box Office

It would perhaps be the mother of all returns, one that not many would’ve predicted. Speculation is mounting in Italy that Antonio Conte could return to Juventus after a decade away.

The former Juve, Italy and Chelsea coach walked away from the team he served for 13 years as a player and three as a coach in the summer of 2014, disgruntled with the club’s lack of ambition in the transfer market. Conte infamously walked away from the club only a couple of days into pre-season training after the club lost out on buying Verona winger Juan Iturbe to Roma.

Juventus replaced Conte with Max Allegri within a matter of hours, and Juve went on to resoundingly dominate the Italian football landscape for the rest of the decade. Allegri came within 90 minutes of winning a treble in his first season with ostensibly the same players Conte complained about. More domestic doubles and Champions League final appearances followed before Allegri was sacked in the summer of 2019.

Since then, the wheels have fallen off the Juventus machine, which has led to the current possibility of a second Conte return. Corriere dello Sport editor Ivan Zazzaroni believes that Allegri wants to leave Juve at the end of this season after three very difficult years in Turin. “Allegri belongs to another Juventus which is no longer here,” said Zazzaroni. “If he finishes in the top four or even gets something more, I think there would be many regrets,” continued the journalist.

“We’ll see in June. Probably, Allegri struggles to find himself in a different Juventus. I think he will leave at the end of the season.”

To further muddy the waters, Conte refused to rule out a Juve return just last week when, as a guest speaker at the University of Salento in Lecce, he was asked whether a second stint as coach could happen. ‘There are two sides to every relationship,” he said. “There’s also always a possibility of getting back together. The important thing is that there is a shared understanding of ideas and thoughts.”

In the years following his bitter departure from Juve, any potential return was unequivocally ruled out, more so by the club than Conte. The main sticking point was the presence of Andrea Agnelli, who felt betrayed by the manner of Conte’s resignation. However, none of the Juve board members who lived through that chaotic summer of 2014 are at the club in 2023, and so the opposition that Conte once faced has vanished. This is what makes a return now possible.

Yet despite his legacy at the club as a player and a coach, would a third go-round make sense? Allegri’s second stint has proven that reheated soup doesn’t taste the same. The Tuscan hasn’t come close to matching his first reign at the club, with the possibility very real that Allegri walks away from Turin trophy less next summer.

Conte would no doubt make demands before returning, as he always does, and it’s doubtful that the current iteration of Juventus could give them to him. Moreover, Conte lost a lot of grace with the Bianconeri faithful after his walkout, and the thought of more reactive football after three years of Allegri’s pragmatic brand doesn’t exactly get the pulses racing.

By the same token, Conte’s love of the 3-5-2 system would insure a somewhat seamless transition from Allegri’s own 3-5-1-1/3-5-2 hybrid system that’s been adopted over the past 12 months. Yet hiring Conte also brings with it it’s own set of issues. The Puglia native is never shy in venting his frustrations with a club in a public setting. Moreover, with Juventus posting 2022-23 financial losses of $131m (€120m), it’s difficult to see the club signing the players Conte would no doubt want. Champions League football would also mean facing the competition that Conte has struggled with most. His record in Europe’s premiere competition is poor for a coach of his talent, and he’s never got any further than the quarter finals despite coaching the likes of Juve, Inter, Chelsea and Tottenham.

Whether a Conte return will happen, with seven months of the current season to go, is pure conjecture at this stage. But with Agnelli, Pavel Nedved, Beppe Marotta and all of the board who would’ve vetoed any return now gone, it’s finally a possibility, and it would be box office.