Juventus manager Massimo Allegri has confirmed that key player Arturo Vidal was never going to leave the club, despite strong interest from Manchester United this summer.
Louis Van Gaal was rumoured to be readying a bid for the Chilean after a brilliant season for the Italian side last campaign, which saw them win Serie A. £40 million was the rumoured fee, but a bid never materialised.
And Allegri was quick to deny reports that Vidal was ever close to leaving Italy.
“Vidal? He’s never been for sale. The management told me from the beginning that he would stay.”
“We kept a good roster, with many excellent purchases.”
Vidal wasn’t the only player involved in a tussle between both the clubs, after United pipped Allegri’s men to the signing of Radamel Falcao on loan late into the evening of transfer deadline day.
Although Allegri is happy with his new additions, despite not having the same financial muscle as Van Gaal’s side:
“We wanted to improve the squad only by adding high calibre players. That didn’t happen, partly because we know that there are clubs in Europe with completely different budgets to ours. Look at the investments made by Manchester United.”
Juventus will now hope that with Vidal’s short term future at least settled for now, that they can look to retain their Serie A title this season.
Written by Matthew Derrig
