Beppe Marotta reveals Gigi Buffon and Giorgio Chiellini rejected overseas moves, plus how Juventus” data-scaytid=”6″>Juventus kept Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba.
Beppe Marotta reveals Gigi Buffon and Giorgio Chiellini rejected overseas moves, plus how Juventus kept Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba.
The general manager sat down with Tuttosport newspaper for a lengthy interview, covering such subjects as their Champions League struggles and resisting big money offers.
“The problem is that, apart from a few exceptions like Atletico Madrid, the rule is that the top Champions League places go to clubs with huge revenues. Today’s Bayern Munich, in my view, are simply unbeatable.
“We want to put ourselves in a stable position among the top eight European clubs. At the moment that’s all that matters.”
Despite the lack of funds compared to other countries, many stars are still eager to remain in Turin.
“When Buffon renewed his contract, he had a wage proposal from a foreign club worth €10m net! Gigi actually cut his wages to continue with us.
“The same is true of Chiellini, who over the summer had the opportunity to go abroad with a substantial contract, but decided to renew with us.”
Vidal was repeatedly linked with Manchester United and Real Madrid, but the Chile international also remained in Turin.
“We didn’t want to give Vidal to Manchester United, end of story,” continued Marotta. “Besides, our rapport with his agent Fernando Felicevich is good.
“As for Pogba, we have just renewed his contract. He was on very small wages and so we improved his salary.
“It always depends on the player: if Pogba and Vidal are happy to stay, then we will keep them.”
There are reports over January reinforcements, but Marotta warns it’s about quality, not quantity.
“If there are players who can increase the quality of the squad, then we will consider them, but there’s nothing to say that promise will be a guarantee.
“It’s not easy to find players worthy of Juve and we don’t want to become some refuge for any old out of contract figure.
“Having said all that, Dani Alves is certainly a very good player.”
Juve have been consistently linked with 31-year-old right-back Dani Alves, whose Barcelona contract expires at the end of the season.