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Juventus: the grace period is over for Luciano Spalletti, and now he must deliver victories. The goals scored by Loïs Openda and Vasilije Adzic, along with the looming presence of Antonio Conte, frame the situation.

John Elkann has set the target clearly: win. For Spalletti, the allowance of that first half-season is now finished.

“We are in a building phase now, but Juve’s ambition is always to win.” John Elkann, watching the first team’s 2-0 friendly victory over Next Gen over 45 minutes from the bench alongside Luciano Spalletti, laid down the objective for the season. Juventus ended the previous league campaign in sixth place and have not lifted the Serie A title since 2020, but for this club and this squad, the aim must always be to win. Finishing fourth may be the minimum requirement for the club’s finances, but it does not satisfy the ambitions of Juventus, the management, the coach, the team or the supporters. In simple terms, the main responsibility now rests above all with Spalletti, because the new directors have only just come in and still have to build, while the manager is being asked to win this year.

To put it plainly, beyond Elkann’s statement, it is evident that Spalletti’s grace period after arriving midway through his first season has now ended. The disappointing end to last season was not pinned on him because, if only the points collected from the moment he replaced Igor Tudor are counted, his Juventus would have reached the Champions League. The disastrous 2025-26 season was blamed entirely on Damien Comolli and certain players. Not on the Tuscan coach, despite the way Juventus allowed that small advantage in the race for the Champions League places over their rivals to disappear until only a few rounds remained in the league campaign.

Now a new phase begins. Aside from the failure to sign Dusan Vlahovic and an experienced goalkeeper such as Alisson or Emiliano “Dibu” Martinez, Spalletti has received the reinforcements he requested in the transfer market: Guglielmo Vicario, Zeki Celik, Jhon Lucumí, Alajbegovic, Ekhator and the confirmation of Jérémie Boga. There could still be another arrival before 1 September, either in midfield or in attack. The club are also trying to meet Spalletti’s wishes in terms of departures, with the exits of Openda and Adzic — both, interestingly, on the scoresheet in the first official match of the season for their new clubs, Lyon and Sassuolo — as well as Rouhi. There are also complicated negotiations to move on Michele Di Gregorio, one defender from Daniele Rugani and Juan Cabal, one midfielder from Fabio Miretti and Teun Koopmeiners, in addition to cutting Arthur, and at least two from Nico Gonzalez, David, Arkadiusz Milik and Edon Zhegrova. On top of that, the directors are supporting Spalletti in his effort to place trust in the revived Douglas Luiz.

At 6.30pm on Sunday in Frosinone, Spalletti’s first real Juventus, completely his own, will take the field, and from that point he will no longer have any room for error. If the start goes wrong, it is easy to imagine that the shadow of Antonio Conte would very quickly begin to hover over the Juventus bench.