Marotta defends Juve transfer policy

Juventus director general Beppe Marotta has defended his actions on the transfer market for the Old Lady.

Marotta’s moves were placed into doubt by some of the club’s shareholders on Friday morning, but he’s hit back.

“It’s true, errors have been made,” he noted. “Jorge Martinez [signed for €12m from Catania], above all, but you only make mistakes when you actually buy.

“Over the last two years we have had to oversee, not a revolution, but a significant rejuvenation. We’ve signed 22 players and you can get a few signings wrong.

“But don’t forget about the ones we got right, like Andrea Pirlo on a free, Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal – a player we signed for €10m and one for whom we rejected an offer of €30m.

“We turned that down because Juventus are not a selling club.”

Marotta also insisted that Juve made the right decision in agreeing to sell Ciro Immobile to Genoa in a co-ownership.

“In order to get the best out of youngsters, you have to give other clubs an incentive to do that,” he continued. “Simple loan moves often don’t work in the same way.

“Look at Sebastian Giovinco. We sold a half share in him for €4m to Parma and we signed him back for €11m – now he is a €15m player.”

The former Sampdoria official also revealed the truth behind Juventus’ apparent attempt to hijack Fiorentina’s deal for Dimitar Berbatov in the summer.

“We contacted the player and he told us that he would never join Fiorentina,” Marotta claimed. “He said he just had to decide between us and Fulham, who were bossed by his former Coach Martin Jol.

“Fiorentina keep attacking us, but the truth is that we helped them to not look foolish.”