The 7 first-team players Juventus signed alongside Paul Pogba in 2012 | OneFootball

Paul Pogba has joined Juventus on a free transfer from Manchester United for a second time and will be hoping to match the success of his first spell with the Serie A giants – but how did the other players that joined Juve in 2012 fare?

Pogba was 19 when he switched Manchester for Turin and quickly established himself as one of the best midfielders in world football.

Forming a brilliant midfield partnership with Andrea Pirlo, Pogba won four Serie A titles during his first spell at Juventus, plus two Coppa Italias and two Italian Supercups between 2016 and 2016.

But he was not the only player to arrive at the club that summer. We’ve taken a look at the seven other faces that joined Juve in the same window as Pogba and how they fared.

Martin Caceres

Caceres first joined Juve in 2009 on loan from Barcelona but made a permanent move to the club in the summer of 2012.

The former Uruguay international won six Serie A titles in total, also lifting three Supercoppa trophies and clinching two Coppa Italia medals.

But he aslo made headlines in 2015 after ploughing his Ferrari into a bus shelter and parked cars in Turin, earning a fine and suspension from Juventus.

Caceres played 119 times in all competitions for the Old Lady across three spells, leaving the club for the final time in 2019.

Emanuele Giaccherini

Giaccherini enjoyed a successful loan spell at Juventus in 2011-12, and starred in Italy’s run to the Euro 2012 final, before making his move from Cesena permanent.

But the midfielder only lasted another season before manager Antonio Conte sold him to Sunderland in order to raise funds.

While Giaccherini was far from a flop for Juventus, he was ultimately considered disposable.

Lucio

Despite being of the best defenders in world football during his prime, Lucio’s time at Juventus was a colossal failure.

“Juventus? A difficult situation for me,” the defender recalled in 2020. “I didn’t want to leave Inter. I wanted to continue. There was a change of coach with the arrival of Stramaccioni. He and Marco Branca put too much pressure on me and my agent.

“I remember when I was on vacation in Brazil and every 15 minutes Branca called me, followed by others from Inter who constantly told me: ‘You have to leave, you have to find another club’. It was a difficult situation.”

Having joined Juventus, Lucio only appeared four times before his contract was cancelled by mutual consent in December 2012.

“I made a mistake,” Lucio admitted. “This is very clear, in fact after six months I left and I did not feel well there. This is football.”

Kwadwo Asamoah

Juventus raided Serie A rivals Udinese for the signing of Asamoah in a co-ownership agreement, with Conte paying €9million for 50% of Asamoah’s contract.

And the former Ghana international made an impressive debut, scoring in their SuperCoppa Italiana victory over Napoli and becoming a first-team fixture as Juventus won another Serie A title.

Asamoah won the affection of Juventus fans with his boundless energy and commitment to the cause, playing over 8,000 passes in almost 12,000 minutes in the famous stripes while creating 150 scoring opportunities and 288 crosses.

After six successful years, Asamoah moved to Internazionale on a free transfer and was last seen playing for Cagliari in 2021.

Mauricio Isla

Another player plucked from Udinese, Isla was incredibly excited to join Juve and link up with Chile international team-mate Arturo Vidal.

“In Udine I became a professional,” Isla told Chilean television after the move was sealed. “But I have always said that sooner or later I would go to a bigger club like Juve. There I can challenge for trophies. I want to play and win something important, like the Champions League.”

We can’t help thinking that spending a season on loan at QPR two years later, after making little impact at Juve, wasn’t part of the plan.

And, after a further temporary spell at Marseille, Isla finally left Juventus on a permanent basis in 2016 to join Cagliari.

Nicklas Bendtner

Having failed to convince Arsene Wenger of his world-beating potential, Bendtner was sent on loan to Juventus for the duration of the 2012-13 season.

“I got a bit stuck in England,” Bendtner told the Daily Mail in December 2012. “At times I felt I was misunderstood and people had sort of boxed me off.”

But the move to Italy didn’t ignite his career as he’d hoped; Bendtner finished his season with only two league starts and without a goal in eleven appearances in all competitions.

The former Denmark international was also arrested for drink driving, while out with injury, which did not go down with such a traditionally conservative club.

His loan move was not made permanent. Unsurprisingly.

Rubinho

Rubinho holds the honour of winning more league titles (four) than he made top-flight appearances (two) for Juventus but is generally remembered as a positive influence in the Juve dressing room.

The goalkeeper also managed to get sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct without leaving the bench against Roma in 2015, making him exactly the kind of guy you’d want on your side.