Italy World Cup winner: Juventus need a new striker, Openda and David ‘not ideal’

Italy World Cup winner Francesco Graziani urges Juventus to sign a new striker in the January transfer window as Lois Openda and Jonathan David are ‘not ideal.’

Former Italy striker Graziani, a 1982 Italy World Cup winner, feels Juventus must sign a new centre-forward this month.

David has scored two goals and provided one assist in his last three Serie A appearances, but he’s only netted five times in 27 matches this term.

Openda, on the other hand, has managed just two goals in 23 games this season.

“Juventus need to go on the market and bring in at least one strong centre-forward; neither Openda nor David are ideal player for this team,” Graziani told Rai Sport via TuttoJuve.

“We’ve seen [Donyell] Malen. If you judge a good day by the morning, had Juventus signed him, it would have been an excellent acquisition, but Roma got him instead. Juventus absolutely need to think about making changes up front because without Yildiz, this team is always beatable. The only player who can consistently make a difference with unpredictability and creativity is Yildiz, but he alone cannot carry the weight of the attack.”

Juventus will continue talks with Jean-Philippe Mateta today after Crystal Palace rejected their opening bid.