OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Montero out, Brambilla in as Juve Next Gen manager

11/12/2024 02:15 PM

A brutal start to the Serie C season has cost a beloved figure at Juventus his job.

Juventus have turned to a familiar face to try and get the Next Gen squad's 2024-25 season out of the doldrums of what has taken place the first three months of the new campaign.

It has, unfortunately, cost a beloved name at the club his job.

After weeks of speculation about Paolo Montero's job security, Juventus announced Tuesday that the 53-year-old former defender has been relieved of his duties as Next Gen manager just 14 games into his tenure after being promoted from the primavera over the summer. The man that is replacing Montero is the man with whom Montero succeed as head coach, with Massimo Brambilla returning to the club after a very brief stint as a manager in Serie C with Foggia that saw him fired in late September following their own poor start to the season.

Brambilla, who coached the Next Gen squad from 2022 until this past summer, has signed a two-year contract through 2025 with an option for another season.

It would not be an understatement to say that Montero's three months with the Next Gen squad went about as poorly that was even in the realm of possibility. Through the first 14 games of the season, the Next Gen currently sits at the bottom of Serie C Group 3 with just one win and just seven points collected. That one win of the season came all the way back on Aug. 30, meaning they're now pushing 2 ¹⁄₂ months without a victory.

The Next Gen's seven points are the second-lowest total of any team in Serie C.

There's been a whole lot of factors that have gone into the Next Gen's struggles — important players being injured, some of the best performers from last season either being promoted to the senior squad or being sold to generate revenue — but Montero's managerial struggles were arguably the biggest issue of them all.

So now, with the return of Brambilla, the hope is that he can right the ship enough just so they don't continue to hang out at the bottom of the table and risk even greater developments in a season that has gone terribly thus far. Brambilla's success with the Next Gen during his first stint with the club has been a springboard for a lot of the youngsters that have come through the ranks and are now contributing to the success Thiago Motta has had during his early days in Turin.

Brambilla is certainly a proven commodity with the Next Gen already. The situation in which he arrives now is much different than a couple of years ago. But if he can just get this team to at least find some sort of success and get out from the early-season hole they've built for themselves, then that should be considered a success. It's all about limiting the damage now.