Juventus News Roundup: Juve identify the position to strengthen next summer, Antonio Conte apologizes to Agnelli and more - 14 February 2021
Juventus are planning to take a cautious approach to the summer transfer window.
Juventus suffered a setback in their quest for a 10th consecutive Serie A title last night as they lost 1-0 to Napoli. But Andrea Pirlo's side have shown a lot of promise of late and behind the scenes, the Bianconeri are already planning elaborately ahead of the summer transfer window.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the top stories involving Juventus from 14 February 2021.
Andrea Pirlo says Juventus were undone by 'dubious' decision
Juventus were the better team for large parts of the game against Napoli last night. However, they ended up doing everything but score a goal and that came to bite them in the back as Insigne converted from the spot for Napoli to win the game. Andrea Pirlo was obviously frustrated with the way the game panned out.
Speaking to the press after the loss, the Juventus manager said:
“We never allowed a shot on goal, we lost due to a dubious incident, but it’s a pity we didn’t get the win. We put in the performance that we needed to, but not the result that we deserved.
“We moved the ball around, but not quickly enough, so Napoli were able to get into position. In the second half we were more enterprising, created more chances, but didn’t get the goal.”
Antonio Conte apologizes to Agnelli
Things got ugly between the Juventus and Inter Milan executives as the two sides clashed in the Coppa Italia semifinal last week. Speaking to reporters, Antonio Conte apologized to Andrea Agnelli for his actions but not before giving out the reason for doing what he did.
Conte was subjected to insults on the sidelines throughout the course of the game. At the end of it, the Nerazzuri manager showed his middle finger to Andrea Agnelli as he walked off.
Conte had earlier admitted that he was wrong to react in the manner he did after the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) initiated an investigation into the incident. He said:
"I think it is right to clarify the episode that happened in the Juventus stadium. Everyone has seen and heard the truth, this is important to me. We can be footballers, coaches or presidents, but we are educational role models and we need to remember that.
"I'm here to apologise, I reacted to insults in the wrong way. I could have done it in another way, perhaps by raising my thumb instead of my middle finger. Insults are not a mitigating factor. However, I should have behaved differently."
Juventus identify left-back as the position to strengthen
Seeing as how Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini have revived their solid partnership in defense and with Matthijs De Ligt and Merih Demiral looking like great long-term replacements for the duo, Juventus have decided that they do not need to sign a new centre-back.
According to TuttoJuve, the Bianconeri have decided that left-back is the position where they need has been strengthen. It is claimed that Juventus are looking to offload Alex Sandro in the summer. As per Calciomercato, Juventus have been linked with Real Madrid left-back Marcelo.