Juventus director Cristiano Giuntoli insists the Old Lady’s target is to finish in the top four and that Massimiliano Allegri won’t leave: ‘Any other candidate has no chance.’
Juventus visit Monza at the U-Power Stadium on Friday in the opening match of Serie A Week 14.
It kicks off at 19:45 GMT and you can follow the build-up and live action as it happens on the Liveblog.
Giuntoli spoke to DAZN minutes before the kick-off.
Juventus collected a 1-1 draw against Inter last week, prompting Adrien Rabiot to reveal players do talk about winning the Scudetto inside the dressing room. Has Juventus’ status changed?
“Our status is always the same. We are happy with what Rabiot said, we want our players to dream,” said Giuntoli.
“The company’s target is to qualify for the Champions League and that’s what we look at. We keep our feet on the ground. We are glad that our players want the best but this, of course, doesn’t mean the company’s target must change.”
Rabiot’s contract expires in June and Juventus are in talks to extend his stay in Turin.
“We are talking to many players, we have a solid bond with our players and their agents and we want to continue with this group which is giving us great satisfaction,” noted Giuntoli.
The Old Lady’s director added that Monza’s Andrea Colpani, who starts tonight, is “surely a good player” and played down rumours of Allegri leaving Juventus at the end of the season.
“We are very happy. Giovanni Manna and I work every day with the coach,” he said.
“We talk to our director Scanavino and are a solid work group. We want to continue and are very happy with Allegri, so any other candidate has no chance. We are very happy with him. To us, he is a reference point and hold him tight.
Giuntoli ended his pre-match interview with a message to former Palermo director Giorgio Perinetti, whose daughter Emanuele died on Thursday at 34.
“I want to hug personally and on behalf of Juventus, Giorgio Perinetti, for the immense loss of his daughter,” concluded Giuntoli.