Thiago Motta: What went wrong at Juventus for ex-Bologna boss?

Question marks could also be raised over Juventus’ dealings in the transfer market during Motta’s time at the club.

Weeks after arriving at Juventus, he oversaw the £42.35m signing of midfielder Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa.

Such a significant outlay suggested he would be a key player for what Motta wanted to do, but Luiz started only three of the 17 league games in which he was included in the matchday squad.

Striker Moise Kean was allowed to leave to join Fiorentina in a deal worth a reported £10m., external He is currently the second-highest scorer in Serie A with 15 goals.

Motta’s focus was to make Juventus defensively solid and he achieved that as they did not concede a goal in their first six games.

But that appeared to limit them as an attacking force and while they did not lose much, they also drew far too many games. From 1 September they went 19 league games unbeaten, but 13 of those ended in draws.

Italian journalist Mina Rzouki said: “We can’t blame Thiago Motta for some of the choices of which players were brought in, but it was almost like he continued to double down on his tactics, regardless of the fact it seemed like he lost the dressing room when it came to absorbing those instructions of how he wants to play.

“He refused to be pragmatic in any way shape or form and I think when you have the second youngest team, that were now losing confidence, and yet you still double down on your philosophy.

“I think he made some huge mistakes, despite the fact he had a brilliant time at Bologna.”