Lippi backs Juve’s Anelka signing

Marcello Lippi has refused to criticise former club Juventus for their swoop of Nicolas Anelka.

The Frenchman is on the verge of completing a January move from Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua as they look to freshen up their attacking options.

“Juventus know what they need,” Coach Lippi, who works in China for Guangzhou Evergrande, told the Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I see that the Juventus fans are a little sceptical of him, but he has great class and perhaps just needs a new challenge.

“Juve play total football where fatigue is evenly distributed. The attackers are asked to press, to drop back and that sometimes doesn’t make them cool in front of goal.

“That’s why they have been searching for a new striker for some time.”

Anelka, who will be 34 in March, joined Shanghai Shenhua in January 2012 after a spell at Chelsea.

I dunno how fans can get upset about this...

we spent under 1 million if im not mistaken to get a quality forward for the rest of the season.

Even if he ends up riding the bench to silverware and doesnt play well, the risk is worth it as we are losing a very little amount in retrospect. We're paying peanuts in order to have a quality striker available to us both in Serie A and UCL (as he hasnt played in europe this year if im not mistaken).

Sure he is old, that's why we signed a 5 month loan instead of a 4 year contract.

And comparing ADP to Anelka is just silly.