Spalletti: Juventus need a new striker, but Yildiz ‘is an alien’

Luciano Spalletti praises Jonathan David, Weston McKennie and ‘alien’ Kenan Yildiz but insists Juventus need a new striker in January.

Juventus secured a 3-0 win over direct rivals, Napoli, on Sunday, moving one point below the defending champions in the Serie A table.

“All the matches are important. They’re all worth three points,” Spalletti told Sky Sport via Ilbianconero.com.

“It’s an important win for the awareness of what we do and the players’ awareness that they can play high-level football. These are matches you have to show yourself who you are, why you’re here and why you do it.”

David scored his fourth Serie A goal this season, and Spalletti was happy with the Canadian’s performance.

“David is a strong player, and tonight he showed that he can hold his own in a duel in the box, where there’s no space, so it has to be taken away from the opponent,” he said.

“If you put all your strength into those moments, it’s fine, otherwise you don’t get there. He scored a goal as a proper striker.

“McKennie is a perfect central striker, one of the strongest as a centre-forward. He fights, he’s strong in the air, and he’s got an impressive leap. He plays to get results because he makes decisions. He would be a perfect striker.

“The match was always open because when you don’t finish your chances and the result isn’t safe, something unexpected can come from any episode,” Spalletti continued.

“For me, what’s fundamental is that they always did things the same way. The idea was always to go and press. Bremer was excellent in one-on-one in open field. Hojlund is strong physically, technically and in running behind. He handled that one-on-one perfectly.”

Spalletti was satisfied with David, but in his post-match interview with DAZN, the Juventus coach argued that the club should still sign a new centre-forward this month.

“There are strikers like Hojlund who drop into midfield, you smash the ball into them, and they still make it playable,” he said.

“That’s something we don’t have. David is fine for scoring goals, but when you look further, you also need someone who battles physically with the centre-back. We don’t need a striker to score goals, but for that kind of job. David is very strong, but he can’t do that kind of job. If the team manages not to concede goals and David keeps scoring, like he is now. Then we’ll still keep our heads above the water we can breathe, and everything is perfect.”

Before the match, Juventus director Giorgio Chiellini admitted that  Youssef En-Nesyri had rejected a move to Juventus as he seeks a permanent transfer in the January transfer window.

Surely, the Bianconeri won’t need a player to replace Yildiz.

“Yildiz played as a striker and scored. He’s an alien; he’s not a normal footballer,” argued Spalletti.

“Every now and then, he does something wrong just to see if he can fit into normality, but he can’t; he can’t become a normal footballer.”

Juventus’ next match is just around the corner as the Bianconeri will return to the pitch on Wednesday, away at Monaco in the Champions League.