Juventus director general Beppe Marotta insists they “acted fairly” towardsFiorentina, but have lost Dimitar Berbatov to Fulham.
The Manchester United striker had agreed terms with the Viola and flown out for a medical today, but never turned up, instead flying to Munich. That transfer was hijacked by Juve, but this evening he changed his mind again and chose Fulham.
“These are very normal things that happen in the transfer market, especially in the last few days,” Marotta told Sky Sport Italia.
Fiorentina had accused Juve of arrogance and lacking sporting ethics in their interception of negotiations.
“We only approached Manchester United and got close to the player after discovering he had turned down Fiorentina. There was an offer from Fulham, but he wanted to evaluate our proposal too and give a definitive response tonight.
“He wants to stay in the Premier League. Why was he in Munich? His wife is fromthere.”
Now both Juve and Fiorentina are thought to be turning towards Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner instead.
“Bendtner is an available player and we have evaluated him, but we cannot say that we’re about to conclude the deal,” continued Marotta.
“Fernando Llorente could remain an objective, seeing as his contract expires in 2013. When the rules allow us to make an approach, then we’ll see how it ends. At the moment it is a utopia to think he’ll play for us.”