Transfers and Rumours Thread

[red]

Pirlo is, to me, the key difference between Juve last season and Juve this season.

I'm not going to say that Juve can't play without Pirlo - just that they can't play in the same way. Having not seen Juve play without Pirlo, I'm curious to see what happens. I'm certainly not predicting doom because Pirlo can't play against Cesena.

[Bagg10]

After seeing how Marchisio and Vidal play without Pirlo, I'm even more convinced that we should pick up Montolivo. They provide a lot of energy. What we lack, especially when Pirlo is out, is the creativity. Montolivo would add some needed depth. It would be a good investment for the future, and it might even help prolong Pirlo's career by a year or two. Not to mention he's one of the most experienced players we can realistically get. He's captained Fiorentina for a few years now, including a season (or two?) in CL.

[RomaShield27]

Juventus prepare £21m bid for Manchester City's Carlos Tevez
• Juventus ready to trump Milan and PSG offers
• Manchester City want £25m for Carlos Tevez

Daniel Taylor - www.guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 December 2011 23.01 GMT

Juventus have opened formal talks with Manchester City to sign Carlos Tevez in the form of a series of telephone calls direct to Roberto Mancini from Pavel Nedved, a key director for the Italian club.

Nedved, the former Czech Republic international, has spoken to Mancini several times to instigate discussions about the Argentina international. The Serie A club have proposed a £21m package but City are hopeful they can get more than that in the face of rival interest from Milan and Paris St-Germain.

Tevez's preference would be to join Milan but all they have proposed is a loan deal to the end of the season, leading to a possible £17.2m move next summer. Milan's vice-president, Adriano Galliani, said on Wednesday night that "offer is final" but City are adamant they will not entertain the idea of a loan and there is scepticism at the Etihad Stadium about whether Milan have the financial power to return with a suitable offer.

PSG certainly have the money, backed by Qatari owners, but so far they, too, have not come up with an offer good enough to tempt the City chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, to sell a player who has been on strike since flying to Argentina without permission on 8 November.

Mubarak wants to get a fee of around £25m and is willing to hold out for that figure despite City's eagerness to get Tevez off their books and lose the £250,000-a-week salary he earns via a contract that stipulates he is always the club's best-paid player. After that City's lawyers will look at what action can be taken against Tevez for allegedly breaching his contract, although what that will entail is not yet clear.

A complicated picture was further clouded on Wednesday night by Tevez saying he potentially wants to stay in Argentina. He told the magazine Gente in his homeland that he would like to "go to pre-season with Boca [Juniors] and play Libertadores with them". That tournament runs from late January to early July.

"I don't care if I lose money," Tevez was quoted as saying. "I'm tired of travelling and going back and forth. I'm not coming back to England." Boca, though, are unlikely to be able to meet City's asking price.

Tevez's talk of remaining in Argentina comes despite his adviser, Kia Joorabchian, trying to get him a move to one of Europe's leading clubs. Joorabchian has been to Milan for a meeting with Galliano and City's belief is that the player's financial terms have been agreed. That will be of no use, however, unless Milan can demonstrate they have the money to accede to City's wishes to arrange a permanent deal.

Instead Juventus have led City to believe they do have the financial clout at a time when the Turin club are top of Serie A and going for a record 28th championship.

That may constitute a surprise considering that Juventus are no longer known for their vast expenditure – their transfer record is still the £32.6m they paid to sign the goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon from Parma in 2001 – and they would almost certainly have to break what has until now been a tight wage structure, with several of their higher earners re-signing on lower salaries.

Their manager, Antonio Conte, already has seven strikers and five wingers in his squad but Nedved has assured Mancini that the interest is serious and further talks will be held to try to reach a compromise fee. Tevez is aware he will have to take a substantial pay cut to get a new club, possibly slashing his wages by more than half.

The alternative is that his career continues to go to waste. Tevez has not played since a Carling Cup tie against Birmingham City on 23 September and his reputation within the game has suffered serious damage because of the dispute about his refusal to take Mancini's instructions when he was required as a substitute in the Champions League tie against Bayern Munich four days later.

For that Tevez was fined four weeks' wages, only for the Professional Footballers' Association to intervene and refuse to relax its guidelines stipulating that a two-week fine is the maximum permissible unless it has approved it.

Regardless of the way he has behaved, the interest from Juventus, Milan and PSG demonstrates that the man who lifted the FA Cup for City last season is still a highly attractive player on the basis of his goals record before his relationship with Mancini broke down irreparably.

[Bagg10]

Saturday December 31 2011

Juve have Borriello deal
By Football Italia staff

According to the latest reports, Juventus have finalised details to sign Marco Borriello on loan from Roma with an option to buy for €7.5m.

The striker has spent most of this season on the bench, as he is not a part of Coach Luis Enrique’s tactical plans.

Sky Sport Italia claim that a deal has been struck this afternoon and they are only waiting until January 3 to make the move official.

Borriello will join on loan for the next six months at a cost of €1m, plus an option to buy him outright in July for a further €7.5m.

Juventus have also reportedly agreed personal terms with agent Tiberio Cavalieri.

Meanwhile, negotiations with Roma continue with a January bid for midfielder David Pizarro.

http://www.football-italia.net/node/14218

[Bagg10]

Thursday December 29 2011

Caceres to Juve next week?
By Football Italia staff

League leaders Juventus are looking to wrap up a deal for Sevilla stopper Martin Caceres by the end of next week.

The Uruguayan international is wanted in Turin as boss Antonio Conte looks for some new defensive options.

The versatile Caceres is being targeted given that he can play as a right-back and a centre-back. He also knows Juventus and Serie A well having played for the Old Lady in the 2009-10 campaign.

Juve opted against signing him outright in the summer of 2010, instead sending him back to Barcelona once his loan deal expired.

The Bianconeri are attempting to sign the player on loan again and, according to reports in Italy, a deal could be very close.

Juve are willing to offer his present Spanish club €2m for his services until the end of the season with an option to buy in June for a further €5m.

http://www.football-italia.net/node/14175

[Bagg10]

Borriello is a solid pick-up. I'm glad we aren't spending too much upfront, and hopefully he hits some good form while he's here. I guess this means Amauri, Toni, and Iaquinta are all going to offloaded this month.

Caceres would be perfect for us right now. He's young and more importantly versatile.

What do you guys think about Pizarro? I think he'd be a good pick up if Montolivo isn't available at a reasonable price.

[red]

Pizarro is an excellent player.

However, can Juve afford to have the Pirlo backup as someone who can't really be on the pitch at the same time as Pirlo?

Pizarro would be fine if Juve plan to sign two midfielders.

If they are only going for one, though, it should be Montolivo.

[RomaShield27]

Surely both Borriello and Pizarro would be no more than back-up players at Juve? I mean, don't get me wrong, I like both players, but with Pirlo on the pitch, there's no way you could have Pizarro there too, so he'll only be a vice-Pirlo if you will, while Borriello would presumably be behind Matri in the pecking order. Both are leaving us as they're not really part of LE's 'project', which is a shame, but I can't see them being any happier at Juve.

[red]

Yeah, both would be backup.

However, there both clearly fit Juve's current system, so maybe they'd feel they have a better chance of getting a fair crack of the whip at Juve.

Probably be rather less soul destroying to be behind Pirlo in the pecking order than it would be being behind Greco.

Still, I could certainly see Pizarro refusing the move.

[red]

Make of this what you will - it's from vecchiasignora.com via juventuz.com:

As you all know Curva from vecchiasignora is very well informed regarding Juve. Here's what he has to offer:

Borriello: Conte did not ask for him, nor did he want him. This was all Marotta's idea. Conte fears it'll create tension between Borriello and Matri for the starting place. Conte didn't protest, but doesn't have anything to lose on this.

Pazienza: Pazzi was disappointed because Conte started Pepe in central midfield against Napoli instead of him. Conte looks at him as Pirlo's sub. For now. Guidolin wants him in Udinese because they are losing players to the Africa cup of nations, but the general feeling is that he'll stay.

Pizarro: If we want, we can get him in two seconds. Roma are desperate to get rid off him and we have good relationship with their management. He will be vice-Pirlo if he arrives, but we already have Pazienza... "The technical staff" has to decide on him.

Palombo/Montolivo: The thought is to find a backup for Marchisio and Vidal, not Pirlo. Palombo can easily be bought as Samp wants Marrone on loan. Montlivo will most likely end up at Milan, he wants to start in the Euros and he will most likely get more space in Milan than Juve. We haven't showed any will to get him.

Caceres: Small details left of the deal.

Grosso: He will remain until June. Then go to Dubai.

Iaquinta: Fiorentina has shown interest, but his wages are too high. He wants to stay in Italy.

Amauri: Doesn't seem like he can find a club at the moment, has some admirers in France, but Tottenham and the likes doesn't want him.

Krasic: Inter made an inquiry, Juve asked for Ranocchia in return. Zenit are the only ones to show heavy interest in him. There is Chelsea interest, but no offers.

Zaccardo was offered to us, but we said no.

As far as summer goes: We will not be looking at players like Higuain, but players like Jovetic (Conte LIKES) and Damiao are within our reach.


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The Curva guy predicted most of Juve's summer moves before any hint of them had appeared in the press.

[Bagg10]

Good Stuff, although I wouldn't mind having Zaccardo, we don't really need him. Plus I've been really happy with Lichtsteiner, we have Sorensen and Motta on the bench too.

I agree with you on Pizzarro, clearly he's a talented player but he's not very versatile and he's not getting any younger. We already have a to think about how we have to replace some of the older guys on the team, no need to add another problem. Montolivo would be the best option, but Palombo wouldn't be bad either. Both of them are pretty versatile, they can play alongside or for anyone one of out midfielders. I also don't think there's more room for Monty at Milan, but CL play plus scudetto chances make them more appealing. But on the other side they have Aquilani whose pretty similar in style to him.

If I were Marotta I'd give Amauri out on loan. Have whatever club give a portion of his wages, so we can at least save some money. Hopefully that way he'll gain some form and someone will be interested in buying him come june (if his contract goes beyond that).

As for Iaquinta, I'd probably do the same with him, but I have a soft spot for him after what he did at the WC and his first two seasons at Juve. I wouldn't mind having him in the squad as a back-up, and maybe started for Coppa.

I like Marotta's approach to the market so far. Hopefully he keeps it up.

[red]

Amauri is out of contract in the summer.

I like Iaquinta, too. The problem with him is that he's never fit.

[RomaShield27]

Borriello's first interview as a Juventus player (Italian with English subtitles):

[Bagg10]

Yeah, I saw that earlier today. He doesn't anything interesting, not even what number he's going to wear.

Hey Red, has that guy said anything about Giovinco's situation?

[red]

Not that I'm aware of, but I only hear what he says when someone bothers to repeat it in English.

[RomaShield27]

http://inbedwithmaradona.com/journal/20 ... short.html

[juventino_italiano]

Juventus boss Antonio Conte will reportedly ask his club to re-sign Sebastian Giovinco at the end of the season.

The Turin giants sold a 50 per cent share in the player to Parma over the summer for €3.5m after his successful loan at the Stadio Tardini in 2010-11.

However, according to Tuttosport, Bianconeri tactician Conte would like the player at his disposal for next season.

Giovinco has impressed this term, scoring seven goals in 15 Serie A games and becoming a regular in the Italian national squad.

Nevertheless, there are two obstacles that will need to be hurdled in order for Giovinco to return to his hometown club.

The first is convincing the player to move back to the Old Lady given his difficulties in winning regular first team football there in the past.

The second revolves around the cost of the operation as Parma now value their share in Giovinco at around €10m.

If no fee is agreed between the two clubs then the player’s future could be decided by a blind auction.

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http://football-italia.net/node/14488

[Bagg10]

Thursday January 12 2012

Atalanta: Juve want Gabbiadini
By Football Italia staff

Atalanta have revealed that Juventus are interested in signing Italian Under-21 rising star Manolo Gabbiadini.

Gabbiadini has drawn attention this season for his form with Ciro Ferrara’s Azzurrini, having netted 10 goals in 13 appearances. Whilst the 20-year-old has yet to become a firm fixture in Stefano Colantuono’s first-team plans in Bergamo, he has now caught the eye of the Bianconeri.

“Something is happening,” sporting director Pierpaolo Marino confirmed to Citynews.

“There has been contact with Juventus, but we cannot speak in terms of days it will take to reach an agreement. You will see later.”

Juve are already thought close to signing another promising young Italian in the form of 18-year-old Brescia goalkeeper Nicola Leali and have also been linked with Siena’s 20-year-old forward Mattia Destro.

http://www.football-italia.net/node/14571

[Bagg10]

We're being linked to Behrami and Astori. Both are players I like, and Behrami is very versatile, which is always useful.

[Zoff82]

It looks like Marotta is out to sign some good utility/bench players in this transfer window. You cant argue this team is playing good defensively so the defensive reinforcements we all wanted in the beginning of the year are out of the question. I would like him to bring in a defender or two. Good riddance to Amauri, what a bitch he was. I've never seen a player cry so much as he did when things didn't go his way. Juve doesn't need that type of player.

Matri has 7 goals on the year so far. Do we still think he's a 20+ goal scorer/season?