In life as in sports, there comes a time when the need for change becomes intolerable, with the signs becoming too obvious to disregard.

After more than two miserable years which saw the club continuously slipping towards the abyss, it’s past time for Juventus to shatter the old and stubborn mentality and allow a new era to emerge.

With the likes of Juan Cuadrado and Leonardo Bonucci being on their last legs, and a veteran like Angel Di Maria lacking the physical condition (and perhaps even the determination) to bail the club out of its woeful situation, Max Allegri has finally resorted to youngsters.

In yesterday’s fixture in Lecce, the manager thrusted two teenagers in his starting lineup (Fabio Miretti and Matias Soulè) while another two young men came off the bench to combine for the all-important winner (Nicolò Fagioli and Samuel Iling-Junior).

While Federico Gatti isn’t exactly a youngster at the age of 24, it’s refreshing to see him earning playing time at the expense of older players.

For a manager who’s notorious for his lack of interest in young players, seeing the increasing number of youth products taking part in the first team’s matches is a sight to behold and a reason to celebrate on its own, regardless of the final result.

But before acknowledging Allegri’s “rebirth”, we should remember that the tactician is currently operating with a depleted squad, with the likes Chiesa, Pogba, Di Maria, Paredes, Locatelli, Bremer and Vlahovic all unavailable.

So at this point, we can only wonder whether Max has truly embraced the youth revolution or just buying himself enough time before returning to his old favorites once available.

Naturally, only time will reveal the answer for this question. But in the meantime, the youngsters have a golden opportunity upon their hand, and whoever seizes it will surely carve himself a permanent spot in the manager’s tactical scheming, even if he’ll have to share it once the injured players make their return to action. At least he’ll be in the fold.

So let’s hope that the youth revolution proves to be a genuine and fruitful movement rather than a false dawn in an ever-ending dark tunnel.