Juan David Cabal Murillo, known more simply as Juan Cabal, is a new Juventus player, having arrived and signed for the club on Thursday, 18 July. Here we analyse our new defender and what he brings to the Bianconeri squad.
BACKGROUND
His identikit reads as follows: a left-sided defender, Colombian, born in 2001, with a powerful physique, who spent his first two seasons in Serie A with Hellas Verona. Going into more detail, one begins to glimpse the qualities that convinced Giuntoli and his staff to bet on the Cali-born boy. Cabal arrived in Italy towards the end of the transfer market in the summer of 2022, having risen through the ranks at Atletico Nacional, a team in which he made his senior debut in July 2019, making 50 appearances and scoring one goal in four seasons.
VERONA
His first year with the Scaligeri did not bring him great satisfaction. In the few games he did play (12 at the end of the season), he played as a central defender, turning out to be more of an alternative to Hellas' star players. He did, however, play a good half-hour in the play-off to stay in Serie A against Spezia, showing focus and steele in the crucial phase of the 2022/23 season.
He also struggled to cement himself in the team over the first half of the following season, finding little space in coach Baroni's 3-4-2-1 formation. Conditioned by a nagging hamstring injury, which kept him off the pitch for a month and a half, the turning point for Cabal came after the winter transfer window. Hellas sold Terracciano to AC Milan, Faraoni to Fiorentina and Doig to Sassuolo, and Juan's season took a different turn. Fielded for the first time against Roma on 20 January 2024, the Colombian was deployed for the first time on the left flank of Baroni's new four-man defence, becoming indispensable in the surprising Verona side that secured safety by the end of the campaign. From January onwards he played practically all of the matches (apart from the fixture against Fiorentina, which was missed due to disqualification), gained confidence and finished the year with a total of 22 games (17 of which came in the last 18 matches on the calendar).
TACTICAL POSITIONING
Juventus snatched him away from fierce competition that had already had their eyes on the Venetian talent for some time, and brought in a modern full-back that perfectly suits coach Thiago Motta's philosophy.
Over the last few months of his Italian adventure, Cabal has shown his tactical prowess: through the Venetian interlude, his talent as a wideplayer has emerged, when in fact in previous experiences he had shown more promise as a defensive centre-back. Not to be overlooked was the last league game against Inter, which saw Juan return to his roots, juggling discreetly in the centre of the Gialloblù rearguard. The curiosity to see him at work with the Juventus jersey is already high: many fans are wondering what Juan Cabal can give to this Juventus team, and the conditions to discover a little hidden treasure are more than tangible.
Power, physique, presence and guile. Juan is ready to entertain!