Why Juventus are already shopping for a striker to play alongside Kolo Muani
A year after inheriting an unresolved centre-forward problem, Luciano Spalletti is reportedly reworking his system and his squad to get more from Randal Kolo Muani.
Juventus are exploring the January market for a new centre-forward even though the club only recommitted to the position with three signings last summer, according to reports from several Italian outlets relayed by Football Italia.
The reporting centres on Luciano Spalletti's continued frustration with a role that has troubled him since he took charge of the club roughly a year ago. Tuttosport is cited as saying the coach is facing almost identical issues now to those he inherited on arrival.
The same hole, refilled and emptied again
Juventus lost Dusan Vlahovic on a free transfer when his contract expired, while Jonathan David and Lois Openda were both loaned out after a single season at the club. That triple departure forced the summer arrivals of Randal Kolo Muani, Jeff Ekhator and Nick Woltemade.
On paper that looks like reinforcement. In practice, Football Italia's sourcing suggests Spalletti is back where he started: short of a genuine, traditional number nine he can trust to lead the line consistently.
Ekhator has not yet made a competitive appearance because of injuries, removing him from the equation entirely for now. Woltemade, meanwhile, is described as a player who divides opinion in Italy and is not viewed as an out-and-out centre-forward, which was precisely the limitation Spalletti identified in David and Openda last season.
That leaves Kolo Muani carrying the central striking burden largely alone, a situation the reporting compares directly to Juventus's early-season reliance on Vlahovic a year ago. History, in other words, is repeating itself with different names attached to the same problem.
Kolo Muani's numbers tell an uneven story
Kolo Muani did not open his Serie A account for Juventus this season until October, when he headed in an equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Cagliari. Before that goal, his campaign had produced nothing in the league.
The context matters here, because it is not simply a case of a misfiring forward. During a loan spell at Juventus from Paris Saint-Germain in the second half of 2024-25, Kolo Muani scored eight goals in sixteen Serie A appearances, a considerably more productive return. This season, by contrast, he has one goal from six league starts.
That gap between the two spells is the detail driving the reported search for support. A player who scored at roughly a goal every two games on loan is now scoring at a fraction of that rate as a permanent squad member carrying the central attacking responsibility more or less alone. Whether that reflects a dip in form, a lack of service, or the system around him is exactly the question Spalletti appears to be trying to answer.
La Stampa is reported to have said Spalletti still wants, and needs, a new centre-forward brought in during the January window, while Tuttosport goes further, claiming the search for an additional attacker is already under way.
A system change built around two strikers
Beyond simple recruitment, Tuttosport reportedly suggests Spalletti is also weighing a tactical adjustment designed to get more from Kolo Muani rather than asking him to carry the line unsupported. One option under consideration is a 4-4-2, pairing him with a second forward.
This would not be an entirely new idea for Spalletti this season. He has already experimented with two-striker pairings involving Woltemade and Nico Gonzalez, according to the reporting, suggesting the coach already has a template in mind rather than starting from scratch.
The logic of a strike partnership is straightforward: it reduces the isolation a lone forward faces against two centre-backs, creates passing and movement options in the box, and allows a player like Kolo Muani, who has shown he can finish chances when they come at volume, to operate off a partner rather than as the sole focal point.
For that approach to work over a full season rather than as an occasional variation, Spalletti reportedly wants another recognised out-and-out striker who can rotate with and compete against Kolo Muani, rather than a makeshift partner drawn from the existing squad.
There is also a medium-term piece to the plan. Spalletti is said to be hoping Kenan Yildiz, once back from injury in the winter, can provide a further attacking option in the central areas, adding another route to goal beyond a reshaped front line.
None of this is confirmed business yet, and the reporting is attributed to Italian outlets rather than to the club itself. But the direction is clear: a coach still searching, a year on, for the centre-forward solution that has eluded Juventus since before he arrived.