Zhegrova to Juventus: Potential Starter & Career Shift

Before ending at Juventus, Edon Zhegrova was one of those names that are cyclically combined with the Serie A teams: Naples, Atalanta, Milan (with whom he had made a audition at 13), it seems that in the past few years they were all interested in Kosovar. In the end it was the bianconeri who won this race, after beating the competition of Marseille. As confessed by Litang, president of Lille, the player had also spoken with De Zerbi, but the offer was evidently not high enough, or at least not at the level of that of Juve.

Thus, in one day, Juventus got rid of Nico González and replaced it with another honest wing, perhaps more single -dimensional than the Argentine but which guarantees much more qualities with the ball.

Around Zhegrova there was great excitement a couple of years ago: then it looked like a player who lived only to point the man and jump him. Arrived at Lille in the middle of the 2021/22 season to replace Ikoné, purchased at that time by Fiorentina, Zhegrova needed months of apprenticeship – infraped by some muscle injury – before definitively exploded in the 2023/24 season with Paulo Fonseca. Under the guidance of the Portuguese, Zhegrova found a continuity that did not seem to belong to him, also arriving to sign 12 goals and 10 assists between the championship, the French Cup and the Conference League.

2024/25 seemed to have started in the same trail. Zhegrova had been decisive to overcome the Champions League preliminary rounds against Fenerbahçe and Slavia Prague. In Ligue 1 he had scored 4 goals in the first 12 appearances and in Europe he had signed great performances against Real Madrid and Juventus. In December, however, during a game with Marseille, Zhegrova came out, touching the adductor.

A problem initially underestimated, from which, however, he could not return and who for the late January 2025 forced him to operate. From there onwards the Kosovar has no longer returned. The good news is that however at Juventus Zhegrova should already be in a position to make his debut, since he should have played against Lorient, last week. Genese, Lille coach, confessed it, who, however, told how the player had asked him to stay out so as not to put the negotiation with Marseille at those days at risk: “He told me he had a Marseille agreement and that he did not have the right head to play”.

The bad news, as it is easy to understand, is that the precedent of pubalgia, combined with some muscle problems of the 2022/23 season, could make Juventus fans worry, a team tormented by injuries in recent years. Only the next few months can tell us if the German wing of Kosovar origin has definitively solved his problems.

For the rest, Tudor will have a profile that arrived mainly for a reason: bring unpredictability to the right side, and perhaps even more productivity than Conceiçao.

The comparison with Conceicao
The two will play the place on the right: what should we expect? If the Portuguese convinced Juve to redeem it, it is because of its quality in one against one. Conceiçao has many defects in the choices, he is a smoky player, he does not associate well with his companions and decision -making often is inaccurate. However, he is one of those players who produces a lot. It is a cracking wing, it can go away both by falling back and towards the bottom: very precious feature in an often diverse team such as Juve – to the surrender of the accounts, it is thanks to a dribbling of Conceiçao on Nicolussi Caviglia on the last day of the last Serie A if the bianconeri play the Champions League this year. In this sense, then, Zhegrova should represent an upgrade compared to Portuguese, given that, on paper, it is a better player than him in the fundamental which is the reason why he remained at Juve, dribbling.

In the competitions in which he played at least 1000 ‘, according to Whoscored Conceiçao he reached a roof of 2.5 dribbling succeeded in the face of 2.6 wrong in the Portuguese championship 2023/24, while in the last Serie A he completed 1.3 dribbling in the face of 1.7 wrong. Zhegrova, on the other hand, was one of the best specialists in the dribblers tournament par excellence, Ligue 1: it touched the 4.5 dribbling every 90 ‘against 4.9 wrong in the championship 1 2022/23. In his best season, 2023/24, in Ligue 1 his dribbling number succeeded every 90 ‘was lower (3.5), but he had still grown up for the number of wrong dribbling (3,3), a data not at all obvious for a wing that often tries to skip the man.

Zhegrova therefore brings with it a high volume of one against one, and therefore also a high volume of errors. The continuity with which he exceeds the opponent, however, could have few equal in Serie A.

From this point of view, we already know what to expect: a wing that he loves to receive in breadth and point the man with the primary goal of returning to the accident. From there, the options become the shot or the cross to return to the second post: almost all his goals and his assists are born like this. If then there is no exactly there is no possibility of converging on the strong foot, Kosovar also has power in the first steps to go to the bottom.

In short, for the spectators of the Serie A it will be quite easy to understand what it is about, while much more complex will be to read the game for the opposing full -backs. It is fascinating to observe the ex Lille for the way in which he tries to deceive the opponent: Zhegrova never makes the first move, he is a provocateur, all over the defender, invites him to the intervention. Then, as soon as that puts the foot, disappears. Juve fans will fall in love with the way, as a detention, the left leg rotates above the ball before leaving; Or the continuous touches of sole with which the full -back unsposes.

Compared to Conceiçao, then, it should guarantee more efficiency also in other aspects: the ball passes better, especially when it has to filter from the outside to the center, and it is more responsive to resist pressure: even from the shoulders, in fact, Zhegrova is quick to turn around and go away. Serie A is probably the hardest championship from this point of view, full of defenders accustomed to climbing forward so as not to make those who have the ball. Against Genoa, Juve had great difficulties in leaving the pressing and on the right often Conceiçao lowered himself, without however being able to affect: it was not a credible option with the man behind him. We will see if from this point of view Zhegrova can be an improvement.

Zhegrova on the weak side
Given the premises, it is possible that Kosovar can steal the owner’s place at Conceiçao on the center-right of Juventus 3-4-2-1. It is not at all said, however, that it will go like this. First of all because Opennda arrived and, with all the attackers who find himself in the pink Juve, it is possible that Tudor decides to reverse the attack triangle by putting two points with Yildiz behind him. The requests of the Croatian coach may also not be easy reading for Zhegrova.

When Juve built on the right, there should be no problems for the ex Lille. In these first days, where Kalulu accompanied him on the band, if Juve built on the right Conceiçao used to open up and receive wide, just as he was used to doing Zhegrova.

But what will happen, instead, when Tudor’s team built on the left? The center of gravity of Juventus 2024/25 will be Kenan Yildiz, and therefore most of the black and white actions will go from the mockery lane. Zhegrova, theoretically, is found on the opposite side, which in itself is not a problem. This is not a player who must intervene in the heart of the maneuver because he does not have the qualities to influence it in an organic way: he is not, ultimately, a player who knows how to coordinate attacks, nor a particularly skilled one to create networks with his teammates and for this reason he is compatible with Yildiz, who instead needs to become commander in chief of Juve’s attacks.

Zhegrova has always been a wing of games rather than playing and for this reason, unlike the Turk, a “weak side” player can be very well, which waits for the ball waiting to hit the uncovered side: moreover, Lille often built on the left and then changed and isolating it on the right.

However Zhegrova, on the weak side, waited wide, in size. In Juve of these first two days, however, when the maneuver developed on the left Conceiçao was called to tighten and in fact become a central midfielder.

What will Tudor do with Zhegrova when the action will pass from the Yildiz side? Will he adapt and allow him to remain open on the opposite side, waiting for an isolation? Or will he invite him to approach the center, perhaps to take advantage of his quality in the Strait? We can only know it in the next few days and we will see if, in case, it will be equally effective.

Certainly, for a team that last year seemed to have problems making himself unpredictable, Zhegrova is a really interesting name.