Three reasons behind frosty relationship between Juventus director Comolli and Tudor

Juventus sacked Igor Tudor because of poor results and performances in recent games, but the frosty relationship between the Croat and club director Damien Comolli also played a role in the coach’s dismissal.

Juventus announced Tudor’s sacking on Monday and Juventus General Manager Comolli is set to meet Luciano Spalletti today to offer him the job at the Allianz Stadium.

Juventus have been winless since September 13, they’ve lost three games in a row and have not scored in the last four.

Naturally, results and performances in recent weeks led to Tudor’s dismissal, but there’s more behind Juventus’ decision to part ways with the Croatian tactician.

Juventus’ transfer activity surely affected the relationship between Comolli and Tudor, given that the coach’s requests were largely ignored by the Old Lady’s general manager. Juventus didn’t sign a new central midfielder over the summer but signed instead two attacking players, Lois Openda and Edon Zhegrova, on deadline day. Furthermore, Tudor was eager to keep Alberto Costa in the team, especially after some positive performances in the Club World Cup, but Juventus still decided to swap the Portuguese right-back with his compatriot Joao Mario, who has only collected 330 minutes on the pitch across all competitions since moving to Turin.

The appointment of a new Director of Performance, Darren Burgess, in September, was another decision that the club did not share with the coach. The welcome from Tudor surely wasn’t a warm one, as the Croat said “This gentleman hasn’t yet arrived at the club” when asked about Burgess’ appointment last month. Juventus had welcomed Burgess, stating that the ex-Arsenal and Liverpool staff member would “work closely with Damien Comolli, Giorgio Chiellini, François Modesto, Igor Tudor and across all the technical areas and every age group of the Club to form a high-level team dedicated to promoting excellence in performance, innovation and athlete wellbeing.” Furthermore, as first reported by Tuttosport, in recent weeks, club directors also discussed Tudor’s tactics, suggesting in one-on-one meetings that he should have considered switching to a four-man defence, a step into Tudor’s territory that the coach didn’t particularly appreciate.

Aside from results, Juventus were also not impressed by Tudor’s communication, including frequent protests towards referees. Tudor’s first complaint came after a 1-1 draw at Hellas Verona, in which the Bianconeri protested for a penalty kick in favour of their opponents and a potential red card for the Gialloblu striker Gift Orban. On that occasion, Tudor labelled the penalty kick decision as “shameful.” Tudor’s communication strategy didn’t change in the following weeks as he kept complaining about referees, and even the fixture list, before a Champions League game against Real Madrid last week, with Giorgio Chiellini, Comolli and François Modesto sitting in front of him in the first row of the press room of the Estadio Bernabeu. Ultimately, on and off-the-field issues led to the coach’s dismissal, and Juventus are now on the verge of starting a new era, with their third coach in seven months.