Angel Di Maria joins Paul Pogba, Andrea Pirlo and Gianluigi Buffon in Juventus’ incredible team of free transfers, but mastermind is now transforming Inter Milan

Juventus’ free transfer signings Angel Di Maria and Paul Pogba could well send them back to the top of Serie A, and it wouldn’t be the first time.

The past two seasons have seen the Milan clubs regain their place at the top of the Italian league, ending a nine-year winning streak by Juve that looked impossible to stop.

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Inter’s win in 2020/21 could have been a minor blip with financial realities soon leading to the departure of manager Antonio Conte and striker Romelu Lukaku, but Milan and Inter have shown it’s a tough route back for the team from Turin.

So tough in fact, that Juve looked like they may miss out on Champions League football last season but, thanks to an eventual top four finish, they’ve been able to restock.

Pogba and Di Maria have moved to Italy, but they are far from the first to have been pounced on by the Bianconeri when their contracts have expired.

In fact, four of the best players Italy have ever produced all joined Juventus for free, with a quartet of World Cup winners all arriving for nothing.

One of the game’s greatest ever goalkeepers, Gianluigi Buffon, joined the Old Lady for a second time in 2019 after leaving Paris Saint-Germain, but this time he was free, unlike his then-record fee for a goalkeeper of £23.5m in 2001.

In 2011, during Buffon's first stint, Juve gave a second lease of life to Andrea Pirlo and Luca Toni, with the former achieving huge success upon leaving AC Milan, helping the side again compete for the Champions League.

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Dani Alves also proved he still had it at the Allianz Stadium, arriving from Barcelona in 2016, adding more trophies to his remarkable career, and also helping the side to another European Cup final.

The team’s decade of dominance also saw a string of free arrivals that kept things flowing, including the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Adrian Rabiot, Emre Can, Fernando Llorente and Sami Khedira.

That team of free deals by Juventus is mainly thanks to the hard work of former CEO Beppe Marotta, who left in 2018 and has since continued his eye for a bargain.

Juventus free transfer XI

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The Italian mastermind helped end his old side’s dominance and lead Inter Milan back to winning ways, getting straight down to work as soon as he arrived.

Stefan de Vrij joined for free from Lazio as one of the league’s best defenders in 2018, and was later partnered up with Atletico Madrid and Uruguay legend Diego Godin the following year.

Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez were also shipped over in 2020, while Hakan Calhanoglu was convinced to jump ship from rivals Milan by Moratta.

In fact, Marotta has already matched Juve’s work this summer alone, landing Andre Onana from Ajax and Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Roma to show his former side he’s still got it.