After years in the Serie A wilderness, Italian football could be set to witness the return of Juventus as a legitimate force at the top end of the table.

Following another dismal campaign in which La Bianconeri failed to present a credible title challenge for the second year in succession after their return to Italian football’s top flight, following a year spent in Serie B, Juventus dispensed with the service of coach Claudio Ranieri and have begun a massive rebuilding job as they bid to break Internazionale’s stranglehold on the Scudetto.

Despite having a relatively modest support for a top European side, Juventus are one of the biggest names in European football and star names such as Alessandro del Piero and Pavel Nedved have ensured that Juventus are one of the best selling Serie A football kits year after year.

However, with Nedved retiring from the game at the end of the Serie A season it is clear Juventus need a major rethink if they are to take on the might of Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan.

Alreday, Nedved’s replacement has been identified and captured, with Werder Bremen’s Brazilian playmaker Diego arriving in Turin for a fee of approximately £21.5 million. It is an exciting capture as despite Bremen’s poor league form, the midfielder – also strongly linked with Chelsea – helped fire the Bundesliga outfit into the UEFA Cup Final, where they narrowly lost to Shakhtar Donetsk.

Next season will also once again see former captain Fabio Cannavaro back in a Juventus shirt. Widely criticised for deserting the club for pastures new in the wake of the clubs demotion to Serie B, Cannavaro may have a hard job winning back the trust of the fans, but he will be a key figure as they bid to mount a more realistic title challenge.

With Ciro Ferrara only holding a tempoary position at the club, it remains to be seen who will be leading the Juventus charge next season, but with more signings rumoured, including Udinese’s Italian international forward Fabio Quagliarella, it promises to be an exciting season for all Juventus fans.

Written by Danny Watson, a professional sports writer who blogs about football news.