Giovanni Carnevali, in his first formal meeting as Juventus director, identified four players as untouchable — and the question now shaping the club's summer is whether Andrea Cambiaso, the Juventus defender, is among them.
That question carries real weight. Cambiaso turns 26 in February and has spent 35 Serie A appearances this season contributing three goals and four assists at an average rating of 6.90 — numbers that describe a player functioning well above the baseline for his position, not one to be discarded in a fire sale. Juventus are simultaneously trying to raise around €50 million from outgoing transfers, which means every senior player faces at least a theoretical price tag. The two categories — untouchable and sellable — are being drawn up at the same time, and where Cambiaso lands will define the shape of Spalletti's squad next season.
Luciano Spalletti's Juventus finished the season sixth with 68 points from 37 matches, a record of 19 wins, 11 draws, and 7 defeats. That is a respectable foundation but not a European elite platform, and Carnevali's early moves — pursuing goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez from Aston Villa, reportedly targeting Liverpool players — suggest ambition rather than consolidation. Clubs that spend at that level rarely do so while also selling their most versatile defenders.
Cambiaso's value to the system is not simply statistical. A defender who contributes seven direct goal involvements across a league season is providing output that most midfielders would accept. His AI overall score of 72 with a potential ceiling of 76 suggests a player still ascending, not one who has plateaued. Selling him now, before that ceiling is reached, would mean absorbing a discount on his eventual value.
The broader instability at the club — Damien Comolli's departure as CEO, the possibility of further directorial exits — creates the kind of environment where decisions get made for financial rather than footballing reasons. Carnevali's arrival is meant to impose structure on that chaos. Whether his first act of clarity extends to protecting Cambiaso, or whether the defender becomes part of the €50 million solution, is the defining personnel question of Juventus's summer.
Cambiaso has done enough this season to demand an answer.