CANADIANS ABROAD: What Julia Grosso's new role for Juventus could mean for CanWNT, club future
Quietly, a big summer awaits Julia Grosso, as she approaches a crucial crossroads at the club level.
Nearing the end of her second full season in Turin with Juventus, her contract is set to expire this summer, leaving her with a big decision to make as she evaluates her future at the club level.
Juventus, where she signed at the end of 2021, is pushing to keep her around, having reportedly offered her a new contract for beyond this season, while teams like Real Madrid and Manchester United are rumoured to be circling as options for Grosso to sign as a free agent. Along with past reports of other interested parties, which have included sides such as Manchester City, one has to imagine her impending contract status could make for quite the story this summer, as teams will be eager to snap her up for free.
🔮 TRANSFER RUMOUR 🍁
— wsoccer.ca (@WsoccerCa) March 30, 2024
According to this source Julia Grosso is still considering her options and has not yet responded to Juve’s recent contract offer (2y, increased salary)
Manchester United and Real Madrid are thought to be interested in the Canadian’s services. #canwnt https://t.co/ahyW4IK5lJ
Despite that, Grosso has continued to motor on at the club level, continuing to produce amid the rumours.
That continued this weekend, as she scored a banger of a goal for Juventus, nabbing the winner in a 4-0 win over Fiorentina to keep them alive in the Serie A race. Her 6th goal of the season, it extended what has been her best goalscoring season so far, having topped out at four goals in her first full season with Juventus last year after failing to find the net in her first half-season at the end of 2021-2022.
What a HIT from Julia Grosso today for Juventus, as she scored the winner in a 4-0 result over Fiorentina with a strike from distance
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) March 30, 2024
That puts her up to 6G/1A in 23/24 for Juventus
Nice to see her keep finding the net for Juve#CanWNT/#CanXNTpic.twitter.com/z6iOrvH2uM
This season hasn’t gone as Juventus would have otherwise hoped, as they missed out on qualifying for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since they tweaked the format in 2021-2022, they remain at risk of missing out on the Serie A title for a second straight year, and were eliminated from the Coppa Italia in the semi-finals after winning the last two editions of it, but Grosso has continued to produce despite that.
And as she showed this weekend, as Juventus found some old form in a statement win over third-place Fiorentina, she and her teammates will push to the very end in Serie A, where they remain 10 points behind Roma with six to go, although two remaining head-to-head contests with Roma give them hope they can still narrow the gap.
Yet, while she’s been finding the net with regularity, how has Grosso’s season otherwise gone? For example, despite her increase in goals from four to six, she’s assisting them at a much lower rate, as she has just one assist in 2023-2024 after putting up six the year prior, despite playing in a similar role - as a #8 in Juventus’s 4-3-3.
When diving into the numbers, however, it indicates that is more due to a stylistic change than anything to be worried about. 
Charts courtesy of FBRef.
Using her Serie A numbers from 2022-2023, Grosso was more of a creative force for Juventus, averaging 0.24 Expected Assists (xA), 0.47 assists, 59.84 passes and 91.8% pass completion per 90 minutes, as she made a lot more final passes and was fortunate to turn a good number of them into assists (as indicated by the gap between xA and actual assists). By comparison, in 2023-2024, she’s only averaging 0.12 xA, 0.07 assists, 54.23 passes and 86.8% passing per 90 minutes, showing that she’s generating less of those actions, and hasn’t been getting the same finishing luck from her teammates as she did last year.
Where she’s taken a huge step forward has been in her goal-scoring, however. There, her numbers are up across the board - she’s got 0.41 non-penalty goals, 0.18 non-penalty Expected Goals (xG), 2.80 shots, and 3.28 touches in the box per 90 in 2023-2024 - that’s compared to 0.20 non-penalty goals, 0.12 npxG, 1.63 shots and 2.17 touches in the box per 90 the year prior.
What that shows is that she’s getting into dangerous areas and is more trigger-happy when she does, which is allowing her to increase her quality of shots. She’s been aided by some good finishing, but it’s coming from encouraging improvements such as the number of shots, touches in the box and the xG, making and as seen in both years, she’s an above-average finisher already, which is why it’s encouraging to see her shoot more.
And thanks to those improvements, she’s taken a step forward in her overall offensive game. Take a look at her shot-creating actions (SCA), for example, which take into account all sorts of actions (dribbles, key passes, fouls won and shots) that lead to the creation of shots. In 2022-2023, Grosso averaged 4.07 SCA’s per 90 minutes - in 2023-2024, that number has ballooned to 5.03, showing that she’s been more dangerous offensively as a whole. 
These charts shows Julia Grosso's numbers from 2022-2023 (left) and 2023-2024 (right) compare to fellow Serie A midfielders.
So overall, the big tweak has been that Grosso is being asked to be more of a shooting and final action threat for Juventus after being more of an action creator last year, and in turn, it has led to a more productive Grosso.
Now, however, there are two big questions that Grosso faces over the next few months.
First, what does this mean for her at the club level with her uncertain future? Given her ability to both be a chance creator and finisher, she can fit into different set-ups, as some may want her to keep a similar role to what she’s had for Juventus this year, while some may want her to be more of a creator, and some may feel her best role is somewhere in between.
Among the three teams mentioned earlier, a loaded Manchester City team might see her as more of a creator to support names like Bunny Shaw and Lauren Hemp, Real Madrid might want her to be more of a final action player with some of the creators like Hayley Raso and Olga Carmona, while Manchester United might want her to create and score as more of a #10 in their 4-2-3-1 system.
There are benefits to each role for Grosso, but she’ll have to be smart with the fit at any club she ends up at, be it Juventus, any of the teams mentioned, or any of the others that will surely join the race when she ends up as a free agent.
Otherwise, Grosso’s big goal will be to play a key role for Canada at the Olympics this summer. It’s hard to imagine her missing out on the tournament after shining in 2021, scoring the winning penalty to secure a gold medal for Canada, but she’s struggled to earn starting minutes as of late ever since the World Cup, where Bev Priestman switched to a 3-4-2-1 set-up.
She just hasn’t found much of a fit in Canada’s double pivot in their 3421. Quinn and Awujo have looked best alongside Fleming
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) February 29, 2024
Grosso thrives at Juve as an #8 in a 433, because of that she’s looked best with Quinn in this new double pivot, and Fleming’s always going to start
There, the preferred midfielders have been Jessie Fleming and Quinn, with Simi Awujo also earning a good look as a starter, while Grosso has been relegated to a supporting role, only starting in moments where Fleming has been unavailable.
After looking like a surefire starter in Canada’s older set-up, it’s been a big surprise, as it feels like Grosso should be a starter on this team, but just doesn’t seem to fit into this new system as a midfielder in the double-pivot.
But while there will be no problem with having someone like her in a support role - that sort of depth could prove to be a key luxury for Priestman as the Olympics goes along, one could wonder if she can unlock more out of Grosso.
And based on her numbers, which have remained very strong in all of the scoring, chance creating and passing categories when compared to other Serie A midfielders, but lower in the defensive numbers (which is why she hasn’t fit the double-pivot), one can wonder if her best role might be higher up the pitch.
Given that Canada doesn’t play with true wingers, with their front three consisting of three forwards (two inside forwards underneath a striker), it could make sense to try Grosso as one of the inside forwards underneath the striker, where she could have the freedom to create and score as she’s done for Juventus without the defensive responsibility that is required to play in the double-pivot.
There, Canada can tap into the offensive growth that Grosso has shown in the past for Canada, such as in her co-golden boot-winning showing at the 2022 Concacaf Championships, while not breaking up the midfield combinations that have made this new 3-4-2-1 tick, such as the deployment of either Quinn or Awujo alongside the tireless Fleming in the pivot.
It might be a bit unconventional to put Grosso up front, especially given all of the forward options that Canada has, but given the offensive potential that Grosso has in her boots, if it unlocks the level she’s shown she can play at before, it could be all worth it for Canada.
Either way, as she looks to cement herself into a new role for this Canadian team, midfield or elsewhere, look for her to keep plugging away at the club level, where a big next couple of months await the 23-year-old, as she looks to continue a strong start to her still-young career for club and country.
