Beppe Marotta assured fans that Antonio Conte, Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal will be staying, but Juventus “won’t go crazy” on the transfer market.
Beppe Marotta assured fans that Antonio Conte, Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal will be staying, but Juventus “won’t go crazy” on the transfer market.
The director sat down with Juventus Channel to discuss numerous topics, including last night’s Coppa Italia Primavera victory over Napoli.
“It is the crowning moment of a project we started three years ago. We are proud and happy for both them and for Juve,” he said of the youth team.
“We have 78 young players in Italy and abroad, either owned or co-owned by us. In Serie B alone there are 18 of our players, while in Serie A we have elements like Manolo Gabbiadini and Ciro Immobile. At the end of the season, we’ll sit down with the coaching staff and evaluate who will return.
“In these three years there have been more than 30 players coming in and out of the club. Clearly there have been some errors, but we have opted to trust in a leader of the technical staff, a Coach with a strong personality and a strong sense of belonging to the club.
“Conte is in perfect symbiosis with the club and there are the foundations for him to stay here for many years, because the objectives we can reach are very prestigious indeed.”
Marotta also commented on the players attracting interest around Europe, such as Vidal, Pogba and how Juve snapped up World Cup winner Andrea Pirlo on a free transfer.
“Pogba is tied to us by a contract that represents an investment for the future and we are happy he has sped up that process. He is staying with us.
“Vidal was a smart choice by the club, while the Coach made the most of him. Our desire is to keep hold of him. Juve are not a selling club and we have important objectives to achieve.
“As for Pirlo, you’ve got to know how to take opportunities. When Pirlo and Milan decided to split up by mutual consent, we approached the player, discussed it with Conte and wrote up a contract. Pirlo is the symbol of my time here, as he is a player with a great trophy cabinet who is no longer as young as he once was.
“Signing him left us open to criticism, but at the end of the day we won a great gamble. I couldn’t sleep at night the first few days after the signing…”
Much as the free transfers and bargains have impressed fans, the Champions League exit to Bayern Munich fuelled the demands for a ‘top player’ in attack.
“The difficult thing is to combine excellent sporting results with excellent balance sheets. The Financial Fair Play rules wanted by UEFA are trying to put the brakes on the crazy amount spent by many clubs in recent years, some of them even disappearing from the football landscape due to that approach.
“It is our duty to respect the economic limits, without abandoning the idea of winning that is intrinsic in this club.
“Champions League results are not only down to investments, but also planning. We want to create a winning model that can achieve any result.”