Coaches fall in love with Giaccherini, says agent

Emanuele Giaccherini's agent Furio Valcareggi has claimed that Juventus boss Antonio Conte is "in love" with his client's ability.

The Italy international scored the only goal of the game as the Bianconeri beat Catania on Sunday, and has the full confidence of his trainer, according to his representative.

"He won’t leave Turin for as long as Conte is there," he told Calciomercato.

"He's admired by the club and all of his team-mates. You can see that by the celebrations after his goal yesterday. The faith that Conte has in him is well known, as is that of Italy boss Cesare Prandelli.

"He’s a very versatile player, who can play in four different positions. Coaches fall in love with him."

Valcareggi also underlined the difficulty of gaining a starting spot at Juve, given the competition in midfield that the Old Lady boast.

"It's not easy to play in a top team like Juventus, especially in his role - he has four monsters in front of him in [Andrea] Pirlo, [Arturo] Vidal, [Claudio] Marchisio and [Paul] Pogba.

"But he always finds some space and, like yesterday, can be decisive. His strike on Sunday is worth a slice of the Scudetto. The championship is now Juventus' to lose."

Juve now have a nine-point lead at the top of Serie A thanks to Napoli's loss at Chievo.