Del Piero rubbishes Lippi return

May 31, 2001
TeamTalk

ALESSANDRO DEL Piero believes that the rumours about Marcello Lippi's return to Juventus will in the end proven to be groundless speculation.  To the Italy striker, the words of reassurance from the team's owner Gianni Agnelli are enough to believe that Carlo Ancelotti will stay: "It would indeed be curios to see Lippi back at Juve, since Ancelotti has once again confirmed that he's just signed a new deal with Juve, and the Agnelli's have also said he will stay.  Of course if things do change we'll learn something new about the management, but for what I know Ancelotti will stay because he did a good job so far."   Del Piero however acknowledges that if Juve end up in second place again, the management will have to find a way to make the team even stronger for the next season: "I believe that things haven't changed that much for us compared to the past. We're still there, close to the top and among the best Italian Teams.  However it is true that other teams have invested a lot of money in order to become stronger. Even though we still have some small hope of victory we'll probably end up in second place this year. Of course we are saddened by this and have a few regrets because we know that we haven't always been able do our best, and this means that together with the management a few changes must be made."   However the Italian international believes that what really counts is not to spend big, but to buy valuable players: "In the past Juve have always been very smart and have always been able to invest their money wisely rather than spending big: they have always been able to find the right players to make the team even stronger.  Now so many players have changed and things have become tougher for us, so I'm sure that we'll need to refresh the team with a few new players."
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