What seems to be hurting us a lot, apart from the lack of Italian talent, is the lack of talent in the entire league. In serie A we're on equal grounds even with the richest teams. When we want to buy from Atletico, money talks. But when we're buying from serie A, other things, like business favors, or political favors also play their part. Plus the players in serie A still see Juve as a huge team.
Imagine if Real sold Higuain to Tottenham instead of Napoli, if Dybala started for Osasuna instead of Palermo, or if Pjanic played for Dortmund instead of Roma. How many of you think that they would have ended up in Juventus? But right now, apart from the lack of Pirlos, Baggios and Nestas, I don't see a Dybala, Alexis Sanchez, Cavani, Higuain, Pjanic.
A jack-pot like Pogba happens once in 5 or 10 years. But if serie A has genuine talent, then every year Juve would be in position to pick the best, and most of the times get the best. Unfortunately, this talent is almost non-existent. Add the lack of Italian talent and the fact that we don't have the financial muscles of the richest in Europe, and we're indeed in tricky position.
This being said, I still think that no matter what Lottito is saying publicly or how our relation with him looks like, we should try for Milinkovic-Savic.