Mauricio Isla was somewhat of a surprise signing by Juventus prior to the
2012-2013 season. His arrival seemed to be welcomed by some, while questioned
by others. With the season coming to a close the discussion has arisen about
whether or not, Juventus will keep him, sign him outright, or send him back to
Udinese.

It was early on in the transfer window when Juventus announced the signing
of Kwadwo Asamoah and Mauricio Isla from Udinese on a co-ownership deal.
Asamoah received more attention due to his speed, skill, age and ability to play on
the left wing, a position that Juventus needed to improve. Although Isla is a capable
player at many positions including the left, his preferred position is that of a right
back. The issue concerning Isla was that Juventus had already two very capable
right backs, in the form of Stephan Lichtsteiner and Martin Caceres. In the end it was
most likely his versatility that secured his move to Torino.

This season has not been necessarily a great one for Isla. He has struggled to
find playing time all year. In the beginning, he was recovering from injury, which
may have kept him sidelined longer than he had hoped. When he did return, he had
to deal with competition for his position, especially from Stephan Lichtsteiner. Even when
played, he has not been remarkable, and has not shown to be nearly close enough to
usurping the spot from Lichtsteiner. It is not necessarily all his fault as with
Lichtsteiner being so reliable, it is difficult to get constant playing time, which
inevitably will hold back a confidence. That being said, he has shown sparks of
promise and with constant playing time he could come around. The question now,
as the season comes to a close, is what do Juve do? Although he may have not
proved his worth on the pitch yet, Isla is still a player that could be worth keeping
around.

Juventus are pushing for titles on all fronts and to do so a team needs a deep
roster. The club has a number of solid players coming off the bench and Isla
is one of them. As mentioned before, the Chilean is a versatile player capable of
playing on the right as well as the left. So far Juve have been blessed with very few
injuries to their major players. However a player like Isla could prove very
beneficial, if injuries were to start piling up. Furthermore, it may benefit Juve to sign
him completely as a bargaining chip in later moves. The variety of positions Isla is
capable of playing could make him very desirable by teams with serious holes to fill.
Isla’s season at Juventus has not been great. He has featured in fewer than 15
games in all competitions and the lack of playing time has not helped his confidence.
Although it is unlikely that Isla will ever become a superstar, there is still much
potential to the player and his versatility makes him someone worth keeping
around.

This article was written prior to Juventus bowing out of Champions League with their defeat to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.