The love affair that might have been was cut short when Milos Krasic departed Italian champions Juventus for Fenerbahce on Thursday evening. Arriving in Turin in August 2010, Krasic was immediately hailed as the successor to Czech club legend Pavel Nedved, not so much for their lookalike long golden mops than their shared characteristics of powerful wing play.
How times have changed.
It would be a long throwback thinking of the days when the Serbian ruled the roost at the old Stadio Olimpico with his fast and furious displays. Seen as a perfect acquisition for the revolution underway following Andrea Agnelli’s ascent to Bianconeri presidency and Guiseppe Marotta’s appointment as director general, Juventus stumped out €15 million to sign him from CSKA Moscow, after which the blond wing-wizard had the crowds believing for a period he could actually be the catalyst for progress.
You see, what initially so endeared Krasic to the Old Lady faithful lay not just with his scintillating early displays in the 2010-11 season, which included singlehandedly tearing apart Udinese at the Fruili and netting his first goals via a hat-trick against Cagliari, but with how he always appeared to put the club’s good above his own. Think of examples of such acts in terms of rejecting a more lucrative move to moneybags Manchester City, who at that time were vying with the Italians for the in-demand player, or perhaps forking out €10 000 to personally charter a private jet to Turin so he could attend his first training session with his new teammates promptly. How about that for dedication?
Unfortunately, it appears the only sacrifice he could not undertake for the team was to come to terms with the Italian language, nor adopt the defensive duties demanded of him by incoming manager Antonio Conte last season. Ideal for former coach Luigi Delneri’s ideas of wing play to attack wide spaces and launch crosses onto the heads of strikers from the byline, it became clear, when handed the chances to impress early on, Krasic’s single-dimensioness would not suffice under his new boss.
Apart from popping up with a key equaliser against Catania that helped preserve Juventus’ unbeaten league run, cutting into the centre, working the channels and making space for advancing wing-backs evidently was not Krasic’s cup of tea. Relegated from the starting line-up for indefinite spans onwards, the once-hero of the outfit put further nails into his coffin by scuppering several chances to win games when coming off the substitutes’ bench, most notably against Cagliari in January this year.
Increasingly forgotten, the Scudetto must have arrived in the most damning of circumstances for the poor man based on his knowledge he did anything but contribute to it, despite ironically being labelled the messiah to reverse the fortunes of Juventus initially.
Regardless, the jury was already out that Krasic had to move on. Ostracised from first-team plans, the only good that was left out of him for the club lay with maximising his profit, with the earning back of half the fee Marotta handed out for him looking like a sound piece of business amidst the lack of market interest in the player.
Fenerbahce’s successful €7 million bid comes on the back of Conte relenting and experimentally fielding him as a striker in recent friendly games against Hertha Berlin and Benifica. With a return of two goals in just 45 minutes of combined action ensuring Krasic is likely to retain the highest goals-to-games ratio of Juventus’ pre-season, we may never know if the fallen star had anything more to contribute to the Bianconeri cause.
Nevertheless, players come and go but the project continues, ensuring fans have little time for anything but to relegating the tragic signaling of an end of a period synonymous with time wasted and effort unrewarded, as the club prepares to take on the fresh challenge awaiting them next season.
Follow Jeremy Lim on Twitter: @JeremyLimCalcio.
