Serie A power struggle - how Inter's transfer success has shifted power away from Juventus

Juventus host Inter Milan in a top of the table clash this weekend in the Derby D’Italia. It’s one of the biggest rivalries in Italian football and both sides are in excellent form with Juve winning six of their last seven games to climb to second place. Leaders Inter enjoy a two-point lead over their rivals after picking up five wins in their last six league games. Inter have re-established themselves as a force in European football after reaching the Champions League final last season and they’d already secured qualification for the knockout stages this campaign. Inter famously ended Juve’s dominance of Italian football when they won the Scudetto in 2021 to prevent the Old Lady winning ten consecutive titles.

Juve have been embroiled in a financial scandal in recent seasons and UEFA banned them from competing in European competition this season - their first absence in over a decade. After years of mismanagement in an unsustainable bid to return to former glories, Juventus have surpassed expectations this season under Massimiliano Allegri. The experienced manager returned to Juve in 2021 with the highest win percentage in the club’s history (70.48%) following his departure after winning his 5th consecutive title in 2019. During Allegri’s previous spell, Juventus’ expenditure of €855.82m was the third-highest of any club in the world - Inter ranked 11th with €519.36m. That level of spending was reflected in the squad valuations of both squads with Juventus’ reaching a record-high of €837.5m, including Cristiano Ronaldo (€90m), Pablo Dybala (€85m) and Mirem Pjanic (€70m).

Juventus’ squad’s total market value more than doubled in the four-year period from 2015 (€377.8m) to their record-high in 2019 and it was the same for Inter. Their total market value rose from €248.9m in 2015 to €567.3m in 2019, but they still trailed their rivals by €270.2m. However, the landscape has changed dramatically in recent seasons as Inter’s squad valuation has remained stable while Juventus’ has fallen dramatically. Inter’s squad’s current valuation of €563.4 million is €141.8m higher than Juventus’ of €421.6m. There’s several factors behind these changes but the recruitment strategies have been prominent and this is evidenced by the graphic below.

Inter have the biggest positive differential between purchase value and current market value in Serie A - an increase of €340.34m. Conversely, Juventus rank 20th as their players’ total value has dropped €9.70 from their original purchase value. Inter have enjoyed great success in the market with Lautaro Martinez rising from €25m to €100m since joining and Nicolo Barella rising from €36m to €75m. Meanwhile, Dusan Vlahovic and Alex Sandro’s market values have both dropped by €15m since joining Juventus.

Jatin Dietl, Italian expert at Transfermarkt, explained the differential between Juve and Inter as he highlighted their different strategies. “Inter signed 8 players on free transfers, with a current valuation of €112m compared to Juventus with two players valued at €40m - that's quite an important factor,” said Deitl. “It’s also important to consider that Inter have a few players on-loan with relatively high valuations, while Juve don’t. Also, Inter have completed some very good transfers with players like Alessandro Bastoni, Barella and Lautaro Martinez, who were all bought for much less than they are worth now.

"Conversely, Juve have some expensive players, who are now much older like Alex Sandro, Danilo or Wojciech Szczesny. Some of them remain important players for the team, but their value has decreased because of their age. Juve have also experienced some difficult years with significant changes to their strategy and they didn’t implement a long-term plan. They are changing that now, but they still have some expensive players like Duhan Vlahovic and Moises Kean, who haven’t had the desired impact. They are currently playing a very minimalistic style of football that works fine for them and they are getting the results, but it's not the best way to increase your market value.”