Juventus sporting director Giuseppe Marotta has stated that midfielder Paul Pogba is not for sale.
The French international has been linked with Europe’s premier clubs such as Real Madrid and Manchester United of late, but Marotta insists that the Bianconeri are not willing to sell him.
“In football, you should always set the bar high,” he told Gazzetta TV. “We’ve won three straight Serie A titles, and we definitely aren’t willing to stop there.
“We’re always looking to strengthen the squad, and Pogba is one of our best players.
“Of course, we must balance it out between the football needs and economic needs but we haven’t received an offer for Pogba, nor are we looking for potential buyers.
“We aren’t thinking of selling him at any costs, we aren’t in search for offers.
“His value? It depends on the buyers, but I think it can reach a large amount.”
The former Sampdoria sporting director then stated that only Empoli defender [Daniele] Rugani will surely move to the Bianconeri in the summer, as well as speaking about Gianluigi Buffon’s replacement.
“There are many players we’re interested in but the only player who we are sure is going to wear the Juve shirt is Rugani,” he said.
“[Edinson] Cavani? He’s a great player, and PSG bought him for a very high price; of course, we’d like him but the market is complicated.
“As for [Marco] Verratti, we failed to sign him when he was at Pescara so we opted for Pogba instead, however all of this talk about possible transfers is akin to fantasy football.
“We were very close to signing [Radamel] Falcao in the summer, but now things have changed.
“The only person who can replace Buffon at this point is [Nicola] Leali [on loan to Cesena], but replacing Buffon is difficult, because keepers like him come every 50 years.
“He’ll keep on playing until he wants to.”
Marotta then went on to speak about the club’s relationship with Carlos Tevez, who has been linked with a move away from the Bianconeri as soon as his contract expires in June 2016.
“The relationship with Tevez is excellent, he’s fully absorbed the Juventus mentality,” he said.
The Bianconeri are currently top of the Serie A table with a nine point lead over second place Roma, and are still in both the Coppa Italia and UEFA Champions League, and the 57-year-old spoke about the criticism the board received for appointing Massimilano Allegri in place of Antonio Conte in the summer.
“Allegri in place of Conte? I still remember the criticism we received when we hired Allegri, executives sometimes must make unpopular choices,” he added.
Marotta voiced his opinion about the recorded phonecalls between Ischia Isolaverde sporting director Pino Iodice and Lazio president and FIGC chief adviser Claudio Lotito, where the latter said that sides like Carpi and Frosinone would ruin the quality of Serie A due to their limited fanbases.
“It’s resounding that the FIGC decided to back him [Lotito] and not us, even after all he said,” he started.
“We requested the intervention of the Italian Olympic Committee following the Iodice-Lotito phonecalls, these things ruin Italy’s footballing reputation.”
Finally, the Juve sporting director voiced his opinion on Monday’s encounter against second place Roma, as well as speaking about the side’s chances of advancing to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after a 2-1 Round of 16 defeat of Borussia Dortmund in the first leg in Turin.
“We’re going to Roma to win,” he said. “We’re aware of our strength, but we mustn’t think that the Scuetto race is over, even if we’re leading Serie A by a big margin.
“I believe we can progress to the quarter finals of the Champions League, I’d say we have a 60% chance.”
