TURIN – For Ivan Ilyich Sunday’s match will not be the first at Bentegodi as an opponent of the team that brought him to Italy: he had already been the protagonist of the Verona-Turin from last season. Who knows if returning to tread that field where he was a protagonist for two and a half years will arouse some particular emotion in him, who knows, above all, if returning to breathe the air of the Venetian city will do him any good, if it will help him get closer to that player great hopes that could be admired in yellow and blue.
Ilic, grenade flop
Because since he arrived at the Turin, in January 2023, its growth path was interrupted, it did not continue as everyone expected. There were good performances, of course, but the Serbian midfielder was not one of the technical leaders of the team, he did not drag it along with his qualities so much so that even Ivan Juric, who had strongly wanted him in the Granata (and who continues to believe in him), has excluded him from the starting lineup on more than one occasion in this championship. The last three games of the season, regardless of how they go for Torino and how Ilic plays, will not overturn the judgment on the season of the number 8, who gave the impression of being a bit like those good students but who don’t apply.
The gift to Juric
Yet, although he hasn’t always convinced on the pitch, Ilic in this year and a half he has had, despite himself, a key role in the very recent history of Turin: the investment of almost 15 million (14.7 to be precise) made by Urban Cairo to take it from Verona and beating the competition from Marseille (at the time coached by Tudor, another coach who had had Ilic at Verona) was a sort of gift to Juric, a gift to convince him to renew his contract. In fact, a year and a half ago, the Granata president hoped that the purchase of Ilic would be enough to obtain the Croatian coach’s autograph on the new agreement. Initially he had received an opening from the coach himself but how it ended is known to everyone: Juric asked for time, he postponed any discussion until the end of this season, tying his future to the results obtained by the team and thus making Cairo impatient.
Ilic, uncertain future
This is why regardless of the position in which the Turin Once the championship ends, the paths of the club and the coach are destined to part ways. Cairo he won’t wait any longer Juricmaybe it will wait though Ilic. The future of the Serbian midfielder will need to be discussed with the new coach, as well as with the right concerned, what is certain is that the Granata boss cannot be satisfied with the investment made and the midfielder’s performances which, among other things, would make the realization very complicated of a significant capital gain in the event of a sale. Ilic’s is not an absolute failure because the midfielder has demonstrated, even if not with continuity since he has been at Turin, that he has good technical qualities and important margins for improvement: time is on his side (he turns 23 in March) and for the future Granata coach it could be an interesting challenge to try to relaunch him, make him finally explode, in short make him resume that growth path that he had taken when he was at Verona and which he was unable to continue at Turin.
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