Juventus Faces Italian Representation Crisis in Serie A

In a Serie A season already obsessed with lineups and passports, Juventus are about to walk into the Mapei Stadium carrying a statistic that will sting a few traditionalists: one Italian in the starting XI. Maybe.

The backdrop is clear. Over the first three weeks of the 2026-27 campaign, some of Italy’s biggest clubs have leaned heavily on foreign talent. Como, the billionaire-backed fairy tale, has become the prime example, sending out starting lineups with no Italians at all on multiple occasions. Now Juventus, the club that once formed the backbone of the national team almost by default, are edging toward a similar picture.

On Sunday night against Sassuolo, Luciano Spalletti is expected to name just one Italian in his starting side: Guglielmo Vicario. That’s it. The goalkeeper, still in the opening chapter of his Juventus career, is likely to be the lone flag-bearer.

This is not some grand ideological shift in Turin. It’s an injury crisis.

Spalletti’s squad has been shredded in key Italian positions. Manuel Locatelli, the heartbeat in midfield and one of only two Italians to start all three games so far, has just undergone meniscus surgery and is out until 2027. Andrea Cambiaso, the versatile fullback, has been sidelined since the opening match of the season. Up front, Jeff Ekhator — one of the most intriguing young Italian striker prospects in the country — has barely been seen since preseason and won’t return for a couple of months.

At the back, the situation is more about hierarchy than health. Federico Gatti delivered late-game heroics against AC Milan last weekend, but he remains behind Gleison Bremer and Jhon Lucumí in the pecking order. Unless Spalletti rips up his defensive plans, Gatti will again start on the bench.

Put all of that together and the picture becomes stark. If the expected lineup holds, Juventus will field just one Italian starter for the first time since February 2023. For a club that has long been intertwined with the identity of Italian football, that number feels jarring.

It’s not as if the early weeks of this season have offered much contrast. Even before Locatelli’s injury, Italian representation in the starting XI was thin. Vicario and Locatelli were the only consistent domestic starters. Gatti has been watching from the sidelines. Cambiaso hasn’t been available. Zeki Çelik has locked down the left-back role in Cambiaso’s absence, starting all three games there.

So the responsibility falls on Vicario. The new signing. The newcomer to Turin. The only Italian likely to hear the first whistle on the pitch rather than from the bench.

There is a twist of irony in that. Juventus, Italy’s most decorated club, might head into a league game with a single Italian starter — and it’s a player who wasn’t even at the club a couple of months ago. Vicario already looks and sounds like a natural Juventino, fully aware of what it means to be both Italian and to represent this shirt, but he has logged only about 270 minutes in black and white.

On Sunday, that might be enough to carry the flag for an entire club. The question is how long Juventus can live with that image in a league that still sells itself as the home of Italian football.