Juventus dg Beppe Marotta accused Inter of “mistreating” Mirko Vucinic and Fredy Guarin, insisting they instigated the move.
Juventus dg Beppe Marotta accused Inter of “mistreating” Mirko Vucinic and Fredy Guarin, insisting they instigated the move.
The Bianconeri director general called the Press conference after the sudden collapse of an exchange deal between Vucinic and Guarin.
“This Press conference was called following Inter’s statement, which we defined ‘disconcerting.’ It was necessary to add more detail,” began Marotta.
“The transfer had already been verbally agreed between the parties, namely myself and Marco Fassone.
“Yesterday at 10.48 President Andrea Agnelli received a text message from Erick Thohir giving the all-clear to the move.
“Vucinic is a great professional who helped us to earn two consecutive Scudetti. In the history of football, when a player empties out his locker, it is evident a transfer has been completed. Vucinic emptied his locker.
“It is the first time in my 30 years of negotiating players that I’ve seen such a shocking situation. As you can understand, the situation has left Vucinic and Guarin ill at ease.
“My presence was absolutely necessary to protect Juventus and confirm these players were mistreated. I also read rumours today on Vucinic’s medical, but must point out he played numerous games over the last two seasons and is physically fit.”
There are reports emerging this evening that the clubs are back in negotiations for Vucinic to join Inter without Guarin’s inclusion, but Marotta was unimpressed.
“As things stand, I’d say no. President Agnelli tried to contact Thohir several times for clarification, as the Inter directors had made it explicitly clear that Thohir gave the all-clear to the deal. They spoke today and there are still no concrete elements for Vucinic’s potential transfer to Inter.”
Vucinic is now back in Turin, but his agent is looking elsewhere for a move with Arsenal and Tottenham interested.
“Yesterday we were in Rome for the Coppa Italia, so were only able to meet with him today. We expressed great regret for the situation and clearly his mood is precarious. Let’s not forget these are just young men who are not accustomed to these situations. We assured him Juventus will never abandon him, as we are grateful for what he has given to the club.
“It was Inter towards the end of December who asked for authorisation to speak to Vucinic and that is the only reason the negotiations progressed. Inter were not willing to pay cash, so we invented this exchange idea and identified Guarin as a player we wanted. The initiative came exclusively from Inter.
“Inter wanted to contact Vucinic, we agreed, and with no financial details we chose Guarin as giving the best guarantees. We didn’t point a gun to anyone’s head, nor did we imagine handing Vucinic to Inter would be in any way a ‘rip-off.’ He is a great player and if he is transferred, it is only because we have raised the level of competition in the forward line and given Vucinic less opportunity to play.
“We found ourselves in great difficulty with Inter, because we couldn’t understand what happened or get any clear answers. I wouldn’t say Inter are unreliable, but they are lacking in a professionally serious attitude. If we were to sit down with Inter again, we would require an explanation from President Thohir first.
“Vucinic is to all intents and purposes a Juventus player, but we will evaluate the situation day by day. He is part of the squad, though at the moment his confidence is extremely low, so we allowed him the day off today and also tomorrow. It was a heavy blow for him, as emptying the locker and having a medical made him think the move was already done.
“The chief responsible at Inter, ie Thohir, should explain to Agnelli what happened. We saw director Fassone tell journalists the problem was ‘environmental’ and we want to know what that actually means.”