After inheriting responsibilities that were once held by Giuseppe Marotta and Fabio Paratici, Juve’s sporting director Federico Cherubini had some big shoes to fill.

The Italian has been learning the craft for a while, but surely things become significantly more complicated when you become the man in charge.

While Marotta had a knack for picking up the best free agents on the market, his approach was slightly more cautious when it came to splashing money on established stars.

Despite acting as the latter’s protegee, Paratici adopted a whole different approach when he usurped his mentor as the top guy at Juventus in 2018. The current Tottenham director was willing to pay big money for the big guns – which at times ended up backfiring.

So when Cherubini inherited the role, Juventus fans were left to wonder what type of sporting director he would make.

During his first summer in charge, he was barely able to display his talent, as the market was mostly locked, and he had to deal with Cristiano Ronaldo’s stay-or-leave saga.

Nonetheless, the 51-year-old made up for it in January following a significant backing from the board, making three important signings in Federico Gatti, Denis Zakaria and of course Dusan Vlahovic.

This summer, Cherubini is once again having to deal with challenging circumstances, especially following the departures of Giorgio Chiellini and Paulo Dybala. To make life harder for the director, Matthijs de Ligt asked to leave the club.

But instead of trying to convince the Dutchman to linger in Turin, Cherubini made the best out of a complex situation by monetizing on the young defender rather than allowing the situation to slip out of control (similarly to Dybala’s).

After receiving some fresh funds from de Ligt’s departure, Cherubini then pulled off what is arguably his best maneuver so far, overtaking Inter in the race for Bremer, despite the fact that they were the favorites to land him since February, and subsequently securing a capable replacement just hours following the Dutchman’s departure.

So just over 12 months since his appointment, the sporting director is proving to be an excellent fit for the role.

Our man has apparently inherited Marotta’s passion for free agents (as showcased by the arrivals of Pogba and Di Maria), but at the same time, he’s willing to pull the trigger at the right time, which partially explains how he left the Inter CEO for dust following the blitz for Bremer.

Perhaps Cherubini has learned the importance of rush from the time he spent as Paratici’s collaborator, but Maurizio Arrivabene is here to make sure that Federico won’t replicate the same mistakes as his predecessor which ultimately took its toll on the balance sheet.

Perhaps it’s still early days to judge Cherubini’s work, as the final verdict should be reserved for the end of May. Nevertheless, the early signs suggest that Juventus have finally found the right balance within the management.