Juventus director Cristiano Giuntoli refused to ‘blame’ coach Max Allegri ahead of the Coppa Italia semi-final with Lazio, but was not reassuring about his future either, and refused to discuss a Napoli swoop.
It kicks off at the Allianz Juventus Stadium in Turin at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT).
You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.
The director of sport was first and foremost asked about the reports that his own assistant, Giovanni Manna, is being lined up to effectively take his old job at Napoli next season.
“I will not comment on rumours, I only want to talk about the game,” replied Giuntoli on Mediaset with evident irritation.
The line of questioning did not improve his mood when asked whether this was an important game for the future of under-fire coach Allegri.
“It is an important game for Juventus. It’s too easy to pin blame, we win and lose all together, that is our motto and what I always tried to bring to Juventus. Everyone shares the glory and the blame.
“It is a delicate moment, things are not going the way we want lately, but we are ready to turn things around and confident it will happen.”
Juventus have developed a lot of talented young players, such as Matias Soule, Kenan Yildiz, Dean Huijsen and Nicolò Fagioli, so will the club have the economic strength to resist offers for them this summer or make them the core of the team going forward?
“At this moment, I don’t feel like talking about the transfer market and the future. We are focused on the present, trying to reach the Final and hopefully win the Coppa Italia, to qualify for the Champions League as soon as possible, then based on our competitions and therefore budget, we will sit down and plan for the future.
“The transfer strategy will be respectful of the economic balance and competitive both in Italy and abroad.”
Allegri lost his temper with Sky Sport Italia last week when asked what went wrong in the last nine rounds, where Juve managed only one victory. Does Giuntoli have an answer?
“Compared to the first half of the season, I think we were lacking a bit of good luck, such as last-minute goals. We cannot change luck, but we can work harder.
“We also had a few too many injuries, as recently our strikers have never been all available at the same time, for example Milik and Kean.
“It is a privilege to have pressure at Juventus, we must show every day that we are happy to shoulder it. So we must try to be calm, focused and try to get more points than we have done recently.”