JUVENTUS NEWS

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When it comes to playing the transfer market Juventus, the "old lady" of Italian soccer, always seems to have a trick up her sleeve.
Wednesday's sale of Christian Vieri to Atletico Madrid reaped the Turin club a tidy profit of 27 billion lire ($15.9 million) in a single year.
Atletico paid 34 billion lire ($20 million) for the 23-year-old striker, making him the world's third most expensive player after Ronaldo, who signed for Internazionale last month, and England forward Alan Shearer.
In contrast, Juve paid just seven billion lire ($4.1 million) to bring Vieri from Atalanta a season ago when he was still an uncapped centre forward with an unproven track record in serie A.
After making only seven league appearances in two seasons at Turin, Vieri moved down to serie B side Pisa in 1992.
Then followed two unsettled seasons playing for Ravenna and later Venice, both in serie B, before moving back up to Atalanta for the 1995-96 season.
Since signing for Juventus Vieri earned a first international cap in March this year and played three more times for Italy before the end of the season, confirming the Turin club's ability to find gold where others see only stones.
It was not the first time the Italian champions have secured what appears to be an exceptionable deal in the cut-and-thrust world of the international soccer market.
Vieri was bought last season to replace striker Fabrizio Ravanelli whom Juventus had sold to English premier league side Middlesborough for $11 million -- a steep figure which raised a few eyebrows in England. Although he sparkled intermittently, the 27-year-old Ravanelli could not save Middlesborough from relegation and was dropped from the national squad for a recent tournament in France in favour of Vieri and fellow Juve striker Alessandro Del Piero.
Only a year before Juventus had sold captain Roberto Baggio to Milan after winning the "Scudetto" (shield) in the 1994-5 season.
Since then Baggio's career hit the doldrums, losing both his national place and a regular first team spot at Milan which he is leaving next season.
The decision to sell Vieri on Wednesday showed that Juventus still believe they can be sucessful while selling their top players -- proved by winning the Italian league this season -- and pocket a tidy sum in the process. Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi, who announced the deal after weeks of denials over the move, said on Thursday the change of position on Vieri's future had been agreed by all parties.
"It was a unanimous decision," Moggi said. "Of course, since earlier statements some reflections were made which led to what happened."
He did not refer to the size of Atletico's offer as the deciding factor but commentators said the latest transfer showed Juventus were still one of the most shrewd clubs on the market.
Moggi had said Juventus would not sell Vieri nor Del Piero this season and instead concentrate on constructing a young side of which the two strikers were an integral part.
"Others left Juventus because they were a certain age, they didn't guarantee us a future, they couldn't keep up with our ambitions," Moggi said earlier this year.
But comments by vice-president Roberto Bettega that every player had his price, which caused some embarrassment for Moggi, launched speculation that Juventus would sell Vieri if the package was right.
When Moggi announced the transfer on Wednesday, the most expensive ever for a player leaving the serie A, he insisted Juventus had not wanted to sell Vieri but it had been his decision to leave.
Italian newspapers speculated over the real reasons on Thursday after Juventus seemed to deny they had sold Vieri against their will.
"Whatever it is, one thing is clear: Juventus sold Vieri because in the end it thinks it can be competitive without him," Gazzetta dello Sport said.
"Or maybe because of the problem of competition with other national strikers (within the team) or because of the obvious economic reasons."
Juventus signed serie A top scorer Filippo Inzaghi from Atalanta last month. If Vieri had stayed there would have been competition for places up front with Inzaghi and Del Piero, a key figure in the club's rebirth over the past three seasons.
The club also announced on Wednesday they had signed Uruguyan Daniel Fonseca from Roma which means Juve's formidable first-choice forward line for next season appears complete even without Vieri.

Juventus have signed serie A top goalscorer Filippo Inzaghi from Atalanta on Tuesday.
The deal, which also involved Parma as holders of the papers of the Italian squad member who played a season for them before being parked with Atalanta, was agreed in Milan.
Italian newspapers had reported that Inzaghi could be heading for Atletico Madrid, who had reportedly made a hefty offer for Inzaghi. He made his serie A debut in 1995 for Parma against Atalanta. He scored 24 goals for Atalanta in a season which ended with Juventus as champions and Parma runners-up.
"If I had to decide for purely economic reasons I would already have signed for the Spanish club," the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper quoted him as saying on Tuesday.
Atletico had reportedly turned their attentions to Inzaghi after a bid for Juventus striker Christian Vieri, another Italian squad member, was rejected by the Turin club.
Inzaghi's arrival at Juventus inevitably means the departure of one of their existing strikers, Croatian international Alen Boksic, who has signed with his former team Lazio alongside with Vladimir Jugovic. The latter's departure has been compensated with the arrival of Fabio Pecchia from Napoli.
Other arrivals at Juventus include right-back Birindelli from Empoli and French goalkeeper Sebastien Frey. Portuguese Dimas has signed with Valencia.

Juventus, who clinched the title nine days ago, celebrated at home in Turin after drawing 2-2 with Lazio, who came back from 2-0 down on a wet day at the Delle Alpi stadium. The Juve scorers where Vieri and Amoruso, while Casiraghi and Protti answered for Lazio.

Two goals by Karlheinz Riedle and one from substitute Lars Ricken, who had been on the pitch for just 16 seconds, gave Borussia Dortmund a shock 3-1 win over holders Juventus in a remarkable European Cup final on Wednesday.
Dortmund, largely written off as bit-part players in a match Juventus were regarded as certainties to win, scored twice in five minutes after being totally outplayed for the first half hour and then hit back to clinch victory with Ricken's individual goal after Juventus had made it 2-1.
It was the biggest European Cup final upset since Steaua Bucharest beat Barcelona in 1986, Dortmund becoming the first German winners of the trophy since Hamburg beat Juventus in 1983.
The defeat ended Juve's hopes of marking their centenary year with a remarkable haul of European Cup, Italian League, World Club Cup and European Super Cup. But at least they have the consolation of being back in the Champions' League next season after clinching the Italian title last weekend.
Dortmund, whose two-year reign as German champions ended on Saturday, will be one of three German teams in the competition along with Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen.
Their victory also completes a German treble of European champions, European Cup holders and European Footballer of the Year, that honour currently held by Matthias Sammer, one of Dortmund's heroes on a night of rapidly changing expectations.
"It was an unbelievable match," said Sammer afterwards. "We had a bit of luck and this seems like a dream." Juventus coach Marcello Lippi said: "We're not unbeatable, we have never said we were. We were unlucky today but conceding two goals like that in five minutes was a big blow."
Juventus's early domination suggested they were heading for a second successive win following their victory over Ajax a year ago.
Frenchmen Didier Deschamps and Zinedine Zidane won early control of the midfield and provided plenty of opportunities for Alen Boksic and Christian Vieri up front.
But there were early signs that perhaps it was not to be Juve's night. They had a penalty appeal turned down after three minutes and Vieri blasted into the side netting when it looked easier to score after six minutes.
Despite the Italian side still looked in control until one of Dortmund's threatened breakaways finally cracked Juventus's solid-looking defence.
From the ensuing corner by Andreas Moeller, Angelo Peruzzi punched the ball to a defender who cleared straight to Paul Lambert on the edge of the Juve penalty box.
His high, floated cross eluded the Italian defence, was chested down by Riedle and he lashed home a left-foot volley to make it 1-0.
Five minutes later the Juve defence froze at another Moeller corner and the unmarked Riedle headed home. Zidane shot against a post after 42 minutes and a minute later Vieri had a goal disallowed for handball. Lippi sent on striker Alessandro Del Piero for defender Sergio Porrini at halftime and it was Del Piero who pulled a goal back with a cleverly-taken close-range flick after 64 minutes following a powerful run upfield by Boksic. Seven minutes before that Juve had hit the woodwork for the second time when Vieri saw his shot come off the crossbar -- but seven minutes after Del Piero's goal Juventus were dead and buried.
Substitute Ricken, who had just replaced Stephane Chapuisat, collected a long pass in space wide on the right, saw Peruzzi off his line and flighted the ball into the net from 30 metres.
The only blot on an otherwise perfect night for the Germans came in the last minute when their Portuguese midfielder Paulo Sousa, a member of Juve's winning team last year, was taken off on a stretcher with a calf injury. Dortmund wrapped up an unlikely win against the team many regard as the best club side in the world with only 10 men on the pitch.

Juventus clinched the 24th Italian league title in their 100-year history on Friday when they recovered from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Atalanta in Bergamo.
Mark Iuliano's 54th minute equaliser, after Filippo Inzaghi's first-half opener for Atalanta had threatened to spoil the party, put Juventus beyond the reach of second placed Parma.
With 64 points from 33 matches, Juventus are seven points clear of Parma who have just two matches left to play.
Juve will now have the chance to achieve an historic double when they meet Germany's Borussia Dortmund in the European Cup final in Munich next Wednesday.
The match finished in farcical fashion when the referee was forced to suspend the match for 15 minutes after Juventus fans prematurely invaded the pitch thinking the game was over.
Police cleared the field and the two sides were brought back out from the changing rooms to play the remaining minutes, before the real celebrations could start.

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