Juventus have beaten Inter Milan to the signing of Juan Cabal from Hellas Verona, who is being touted as the ‘new Riccardo Calafiori’ to Thiago Motta in Turin.
Defender Cabal arrived in Turin on the morning of 18 July to undergo a medical with Juventus ahead of completing a €12.8m deal. The Colombian played primarily as a left-back at Verona last season, but has also been deployed as a centre-back in his career.
His versatility is reminiscent of EURO 2024 star Calafiori, who joined Bologna as a left-back last summer but has developed into a talented centre-back under Motta at the Stadio Dall’Ara.
In theory, the defender’s experience at left-back and in central defence suggests that Motta will work with the 23-year-old in a similar way to Calafiori last season. However, there are some notable differences between the two defenders, particularly in terms of transfer value.
As mentioned, Cabal moved to Turin for €12.8m, just over a quarter of the €50m-plus fee Arsenal could have paid for Calafiori.
The heatmap shows that Cabal played mainly as a left-back last season, and while his passing figures are not on par with Calafiori, his defensive stats are similar.
Cabal averaged a 71% pass completion rate per game in Serie A last season, including 76% home passes and 63% away. Calafiori’s stats in these areas are significantly higher, with a 90% pass accuracy per game, including 82% accuracy for passes in the opposition half.
Defensively, Calafiori averages 1.7 interceptions per game compared to Cabal’s 1.2. The Colombian wins more aerial duels (73% to 71%) and is roughly on par with Calafiori in terms of total duels won (61 to 63%) and ‘ground’ duels won (53% to Calafiori’s 58%).
Cabal is a year older than Calafiori, but the Italy international has seen his transfer value skyrocket following impressive performances for Bologna and Italy at the EUROs, meaning Juventus will have to look for a similar, cheaper player. While there’s no guarantee Juventus’ fourth and latest signing will follow the same path as Calafiori, Motta will be working with a similar talent and hopefully achieve similar results.
