Marotta on the new Juventus

Juventus director general Beppe Marotta has today talked transfers in an interview with Il Secolo XIX.

Having wrapped up their second consecutive Scudetto, the focus has now turned to whom the Old Lady will sign in the summer to aid their European Cup bid.

“The Champions League is what we all want, the President, the Coach, the club,” the former Sampdoria official noted.

“It’s now up to me to retouch the squad by listening to the indications of the Coach. We are working on having an even more competitive side.

“I’d like to sign some more champions to add to the likes of Gigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio.”

There have been suggestions that Juve could look to cash in on some of their stars to boost their transfer budget.

“Juventus have historically been a buying club, not a selling one. Clearly we have to keep one eye on the budget, but the most representative players will be confirmed. Vidal and Marchisio are obviously among them.”

The Old Lady have been paired with swoops for Paris Saint-Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gonzalo Higuain of Real Madrid and Fiorentina’s Stevan Jovetic.

“President Andrea Agnelli was clear on Ibra, he will not return. As for Higuain, I’m not saying anything new when I say he is a great player.

“Jovetic too is a great, but there are no negotiations. If a player is offered to us by an agent, it doesn’t mean that there are talks going on.”

Marotta was also asked about Ciro Immobile, who they co-own with Genoa, as well as the Sampdoria trio of Andrea Poli, Pedro Obiang and Simone Zaza, the latter who has been on loan at Ascoli this term.

“We would have liked Immobile to have been used a bit more regularly by the Rossoblu. We’ll meet them in the next few weeks and decide what to do next.

“For Poli, we almost did a deal in January and the talks may be re-opened. Myself and Fabio Paratici signed Zaza for Samp…

“Obiang and Zaza are interesting players, but I have maximum respect for Samp. We’ll see.”

Marotta was also adamant that boss Antonio Conte would be remaining in Turin.

“There is perfect harmony between myself and Antonio,” he stated. “There really is no problem and I’ve already met with him.

“Some would have you understand that there are opposing views, but that is not true. Conte will train Juventus next season.

“There are all the conditions for him to stay, the President has said that too. It’s useless to try and manipulate individual comments.”
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