Juventus coach Didier Deschamps has claimed that no more of his players will be leaving the club despite confirmation that they will be playing in Serie B next season.
“No-one is going anywhere. The club’s directors have decided that those under contract will stay at Juve, even in Serie B,” Deschamps told La Gazzetta dello Sport on Thursday.
“In a year’s time we will be back and competing for a major title. It’s better to hold on to our players now rather than trying to buy them back a year from now.”
Juventus will start next season in Serie B on minus 17 points after Tuesday’s ruling by the appeals court upheld the tribunal’s verdict that Juve had been guilty of conspiring with referees and linesmen to fix matches during the 2004-05 season.
Deschamps’s view, however, was not shared by Juventus’s chairman Giovanni Cobolli Gigli, who admitted that there might well be further departures.
“If there are some departures there will also be some arrivals and whoever leaves will certainly not be sold cheaply,” he said.
To date, Juve have sold Fabio Cannavaro, Brazilian midfielder Emerson, and defenders Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram.
Of the club’s remaining players, Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is coveted by several clubs while midfielders Mauro Camoranesi and Patrick Vieira, along with strikers David Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic had been expected to leave.
But Deschamps remains confident that the striking duo of Trezeguet and Ibrahimovich will stay.
Deschamps told French paper Le Parisien: “These two will stay and so will midfielder Mauro Camoranesi.”
