Hello ladies(hopefully) and gentlemen. For my first contribution to the community, I would like to propose a purely hypothetical discussion.

I was a big fan of Diego when he joined us. I thought he was an excellent player, and still do, especially with his latest form with Atlético.

Obviously he's not coming back - and of course there's no way to know he would even agree to switch positions - but theoretically, how do you guys think he would fare as a regista?

Comparing him to Pirlo, Diego has a similar ability to get out of tight markings in midfield, swiveling his head side to side and switching directions gracefully - he has a swagger about him when he's with the ball. He has exceptionally good vision (although obviously not to the same level as Pirlo), and can often find passes others wouldn't usually see. He's good with both short and long passes and keeps possession for his team very well. The plays that strike me most are when he holds on to the ball outside the box, looks around, and sends in these beautiful floating balls into space right in between the back-line and the 'keeper to a teammate running through on goal - that has got to be a trademark Pirlo move, and I have seen Diego do this very often!

Pirlo was converted from trequartista to regista at age 24, I think Diego at 27, could easily still make that switch. From what I've watched he seems to spend most of his time in the middle of the park already anyway.

And of course most importantly, Diego, just like Pirlo, has a head that is more than a little too big for his body - yea?

Taking aside his temperament, and the fact that he wouldn't want to return to Juve, let alone as a rotation player, hypothetically, I think we would be hard pressed to find a better vice-Pirlo if this switch were to happen in real life.

What do you guys think?
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First i'd like to welcome you to the Forum! We're all happy the more people contributes to this Juventus society..
I too was a big fan of Diego when he signed with Juve, but somehow he failed to impress the fans and the management back then. As i recall he was used as offensive midfielder at that time, maybe that was a wrong choice or else we have the team at that time to blame. No doubt the current team sets new heights of what newcomers will be able to archive. I agree with the fact that Diego was an an outstanding talent back then and, at age 27 he finally seems to have found a team that have the quality to let him thrive...

This is not only a discussion on his ability to play as regista, but if we take this question a little more serious we could start thinking of the possibility of such a move as well. He is 27, experienced and recently won a big tournament with Atletico Madrid.. I believe Diego would do decent as a backup regista for Pirlo. As you mention, he's improved his vision and patience a lot. However, given his new status with Atletico, I believe it will take a rather big amount of money to transfer him back. If we were to sign him it would be instead of our current regista options (Francesco Lodi or Marco Verratti). Given the formation we play, with 3 central midfielders and their current success altogether we could only offer Diego the role as a backup or rotation player. With that in mind, the transfersum whatsover, I do not believe Diego would accept that role in the team. Atletico seems to have a momentum at the moment and Diego is part of that...

I have respect for you being fan of such a great personality like DIEGO but I think most of people overrate the players and underrate their roles;

PIRLO and DIEGO are not the same level

DIEGO is on the level of VUCINIC

PIRLO is on the level of DEL PIERO

you can put DIEGO everywhere you want but he cannot become like PIRLO

I will disclose from the beginning that I'm not a Diego fan and I do not watch his games now, so I can't really judge his ability to change positions. However, there are very few true registas in the world right now that can be considered great. I would say that Pirlo and Xabi Alonso are the two best in the world and, after that, the drop off in talent is staggering. That is why there is so much interest in Verratti. He is playing and learning the position at young age. The regista is almost a dying position.

With that said, I just don't see Diego being able to convert to a regista at this point in his career. He's a true CAM or SS and to ask him to change to a deep-lying playmaker at this point in his career could prove difficult. Milan tried to convert Pirlo to more of a CAM at one point in his career and it did not go well. Additionally, being a regista means do a good deal of defending since the regista is usually the last midfielder. That could be difficult for Diego.

There are rare instances where a position switch has worked brilliantly, like Zambrotta switching from a LM to LB, but, otherwise, it's very rare. It becomes even more difficult when you ask a player to switch from one highly skilled, play-making position to another type of highly skill, play-making position like regista to CAM or CAM to regista.

To be honest I don't know if Diego will remain at Atletico. He should, but they seem to have problems in terms of money, so he might return to Wolfsburg.

I think it'd be great to have him back, can he replace Pirlo? I'm not sure, I've watched a couple of his games, and I see him more of an offensive player than Pirlo, and the team would have to change the style for him. i reckon we should look elsewhere, he just doesn't fit. I'd love to see him return, but I get the feeling it'd be a bit of a failure.

lucianomoggi wrote:PIRLO and DIEGO are not the same level

DIEGO is on the level of VUCINIC

PIRLO is on the level of DEL PIERO

you can put DIEGO everywhere you want but he cannot become like PIRLO

you could not say it better

diego28ribas wrote:

To be honest I don't know if Diego will remain at Atletico. He should, but they seem to have problems in terms of money, so he might return to Wolfsburg.

I think it'd be great to have him back, can he replace Pirlo? I'm not sure, I've watched a couple of his games, and I see him more of an offensive player than Pirlo, and the team would have to change the style for him. i reckon we should look elsewhere, he just doesn't fit. I'd love to see him return, but I get the feeling it'd be a bit of a failure.

He's not ever coming back. Marotta is slowly purging the team of the stench of Secco.

Juventude wrote:

diego28ribas wrote:

To be honest I don't know if Diego will remain at Atletico. He should, but they seem to have problems in terms of money, so he might return to Wolfsburg.

I think it'd be great to have him back, can he replace Pirlo? I'm not sure, I've watched a couple of his games, and I see him more of an offensive player than Pirlo, and the team would have to change the style for him. i reckon we should look elsewhere, he just doesn't fit. I'd love to see him return, but I get the feeling it'd be a bit of a failure.

He's not ever coming back. Marotta is slowly purging the team of the stench of Secco.

I know he isn't, and I don't think I said he will? Never say never, but the chances of him returning are insanely slim.

I don't even want him to return that much, he's better off where he is.

I'd bet my house that he is not coming back to Juventus this summer to be a squad player, only i dont have one.

But, going back to the discussion I was originally proposing - Pirlo switched from CAM to DLP - or trequartista to regista to be calcio precise - at age 24. That was definitely one switch that turned out very well, hell, even better than zambrotta's switch.

Does anyone here remember him playing at the advanced role?

I was wondering (and thus the reason i made the thread) because I see stylistic similarites in the way they move and play. and as juventude pointed out, not a lot of players can play regista - hence the question, given his skill set and playing style, do you guys think Diego could? And if I may indulge, does anyone else see similarities in style with Pirlo, or should I take a second look at what Im smoking?

And to lucianomoggi and pedrosom.. well yea, I'm definitely not trying to imply Diego would be as good as Pirlo in that role.
Sincere apologies for the offence if it sounded that way.