Juventus roll the dice after costly Motta flop

Juventus gambled on their short-term future after dumping Thiago Motta in the hope of securing a spot in next season’s Champions League and attracting a big name replacement who can put right some costly mistakes.

Motta fell victim on Sunday to poor results and a strained relationship with both club management and his expensively assembled squad, all of which had the “Old Lady” of Italian football once again in turmoil.

His statement released on Monday afternoon, in which he thanked Juventus for “the opportunity to be a part of a great club,” belied a fraught 10 months in charge.

Former Italy international Motta was supposed to be the key addition to Juve’s move away from a recent past filled with mishaps, scandal and heavy financial losses when he arrived in June.

He was a new face for a new-look Juve who in recent seasons had suffered the ignominy of a points deduction for transfer offences and then Paul Pogba’s doping ban soap opera, all as the Milan teams, Napoli and even provincial upstarts Atalanta stole the limelight from Italy’s biggest club.

Tasked with making Juve a more dynamic, modern team after the stodgy football of Massimiliano Allegri, Motta was heavily backed to the tune of over 200 million euros ($217 million) in a squad rebuild after arriving on a high from taking Bologna into the Champions League.

Such were the positive vibes around Turin last summer that Juve were tipped to challenge champions and fiercest rivals Inter Milan for the Serie A title, a prediction which looked accurate after they began the season with two thumping 3-0 wins over Como and Verona.

But the promised on-pitch revolution never came, with a series of uninspiring performances and the two most expensive summer signings — midfielders Teun