Juventus are Leandro Damiao's first choice ahead of Real Madrid - Agent

Juventus will be Leandro Damiao's first choice destination should he leave Internacional in the summer transfer window, according to the player's agent Vinicius Prates.

The Brazilian striker has been the subject of much transfer speculation with Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid among others reportedly interested in his services, but his representative believes that the Bianconeri would be his client's preferred choice.

"Leandro really likes Juventus, he wants to play for them because they are one of the best teams in the world. Juventus are our first choice," Prates stated to TuttoMercatoWeb.

"Leandro is a valuable player, he has a lot of eyes on him, from all over Europe.

"I had contact with [Fabio] Paratici and [Giuseppe] Marotta last year. I know that compared to the directors of Real [Madrid], Paratici and Marotta are better, so I would say that Leandro prefers Juventus to Real Madrid."

Damiao has been capped by his country five times and is largely expected to lead the line for Brazil at the World Cup in 2014.


Source: Goal.com

juve_gigi wrote:The NEW Juve would never go into next year with an unproven striker as their main weapon. Damiao may turn out to be a good one, but he cannot be our main striker. We need a Cavani/Higuain/Falcao/Van Persie or even Balotelli as our main guy, then a complimentary guy like a Damiao or Matri. Quags can play multiple positions so he has a place on the team. If we were to pursue Damiao then Matri would have to go and I'm not convinced Damiao is an upgrade over Matri at this point. He could be in the future, but not right now. If we were to take that risk and bring Damiao in to replace Matri, then we would certianly need a world class striker to come in as our first option.

Juventude wrote:With the 22 years argument, I was trying to state that most of the Brazilian phenoms are in Europe at a younger age. And I don't believe that his scoring rate numbers at Internacional directly translate over to European league level of play.

I just believe that whoever we sign at CF must be better than our current options and I'm not convinced that Damiao is that much better at this point in his career than Matri and Quags.

Lynx100 wrote:what are you guys smoking?
Damiao only as good as Matri???

Thats just crazy talk.

Damiao SHITS all over Matri. Damiao is easily going to walk into our starting lineup if he comes. Hed be AWESOME and would be MORE than welcome by me.

Id prefer Cavani... but I would gladly settle for Damiao.

And the Brazilian and 19 years of age argument - is also crazy talk.

Damiao will lead the forward line with Neymar for Brazil and will be an awesome job. And then, people will jump on the Damiao bandwagon...

LWL91 wrote:

All of his goals in 2011 right there. As you can see he is a upgrade to anything we currently have up front BUT is he a big enough upgrade? I would rather welcome Cavani, Suarez, Balotelli, Higuain or Dzeko as i just don't have the faith in this guy either.. He is.. Brazilian.. It's so different to make it through over there..

LWL91 wrote:

All of his goals in 2011 right there. As you can see he is a upgrade to anything we currently have up front BUT is he a big enough upgrade? I would rather welcome Cavani, Suarez, Balotelli, Higuain or Dzeko as i just don't have the faith in this guy either.. He is.. Brazilian.. It's so different to make it through over there..

DeviAngel wrote:He is unproven in EU against strong defenders. The same as Pele thats why I never rated pele above Maradona

Lynx100 wrote:

DeviAngel wrote:He is unproven in EU against strong defenders. The same as Pele thats why I never rated pele above Maradona

Unproven in EU?

So was Gabriel Batistuta in 2000 (aged 22)
So was Romario (aged 22)
So was Rivaldo (aged 24)
So was Ronaldinho (aged 21)
So was Kaka (aged 21)
So was Trezeguet (aged 22)
So was Tevez (aged 22)
So was Falcao (aged 23)

And I can go on and on...

The "unproven in EU" argument is absolute nonsense.

Although its very true success in one league doesnt necessarily transmit to success in another league, Class players will succeed regardless of where they play.

Age, nor lack or experience in EU, should hold anyone back from signing a talented south american player. (take your favourite player Falcao as a perfect example)

And the "most brazilian phenomas are in Europe at 18-19y.o" theory is also clearly untrue if you look at the list.

Lynx100 wrote:

DeviAngel wrote:He is unproven in EU against strong defenders. The same as Pele thats why I never rated pele above Maradona

Unproven in EU?

So was Gabriel Batistuta in 2000 (aged 22)
So was Romario (aged 22)
So was Rivaldo (aged 24)
So was Ronaldinho (aged 21)
So was Kaka (aged 21)
So was Trezeguet (aged 22)
So was Tevez (aged 22)
So was Falcao (aged 23)

And I can go on and on...

The "unproven in EU" argument is absolute nonsense.

Although its very true success in one league doesnt necessarily transmit to success in another league, Class players will succeed regardless of where they play.

Age, nor lack or experience in EU, should hold anyone back from signing a talented south american player. (take your favourite player Falcao as a perfect example)

And the "most brazilian phenomas are in Europe at 18-19y.o" theory is also clearly untrue if you look at the list.