I Love Juventus

Juventus are reportedly weighing up a bid for Real Madrid loanee James Rodriguez according to reports in Italy. Top Italian tabloid Calcio Mercato claims that Rodriguez could be on his way to Italy as the club looks to strengthen their midfield

Rodriguez is considered as one of the elite attacking midfielders of his generation and currently plays for Bayern Munich on loan from Real Madrid. The German side have an option to sign the player permanently but this looks unlikely.

The squad for the Italy U21s has been provided a new update that may or may not break the opportunities for players plying their trade in foreign countries.

Sebastian Cristoforo is one player who has been witnessed a setback by dropping back into the reserves. He has not been able to make much of an impact at Getafe, who have picked up results in the last few weeks. As a result, the 25-year-old has been able to get just 31 minutes under his belt since making the move in mid-January.

Serie A leaders Juventus, are hoping to snap up Manchester United defender Matteo Darmian, before tomorrow’s deadline. Juventus have held talks with Manchester United, but are only willing to discuss a loan deal. Manchester United are not making it easy for the Italian club to sign Darmian. The out of favour defender has been linked with a move back to Italy in recent transfer windows, with teams like Inter Milan and Juventus showing interest, but Juventus seems to be more keen on signing him. Juventus wants to take him on a loan deal, but Manchester United are holding out for a permanent deal.

Talks with Juve have stalled to the point that the Italian is expecting to remain at Old Trafford until the end of the season at least.Reports have it that they told Juventus to come back with a serious offer. However, a substantial deal could resurrect the move before transfer deadline. United will expect to recoup a large part of the £12.7m paid theyTorino for Darmian in 2015,which was the main reason he was given a 12-month extension on his contract, which gives Manutdtime to negotiate with interested parties in the summer.

Manchester United would need more luck to dump Manchester City when both sides clash at the Etihad on Sunday. Against Juventus in Turin, Man United were obviously lucky to get the win in the final minutes of the game. Against their City rivals, it would be much more difficult as Guardiola would have warned against relaxing in the final moments of the important clash.

Juventus were yet to lose any game in the Champions League so far. They were yet to concede any goal as a matter of fact ahead of hosting Cristiano Ronaldo’s former side. The Portuguese netted a brilliant volley to put his side ahead. Juve lost several chances to bury the game while United kept holding on. With few minutes left, United got two goals to claim a famous victory.

Roma legend Francesco Totti has stressed that he would not request AS Roma to retire the number 10 shirt. The 41-year-old called quits on professional football at the end of the 2016/17 campaign and this witnessed him complete a rare feat of having spent his entire playing career with a single club.

As a sign of loyalty, there have been calls for the number 10 shirt to be retired but Totti does not favour the idea, as it would break the dream of a future prospect.He said: “Why? Because he doesn’t want to squash a young kid’s childhood dream, a dream he himself had as a child. “I have always said no, they shouldn’t, but in the end it is a decision for the club to make. For the youngsters, for the kids, it is natural that they are all going to dream of wearing the number 10 shirt for Roma. I had that dream as well, and fortunately I got to live it. So, to take a child’s dream of doing it too, that would upset me.”

Juventus team is celebrating the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in their ranks who is a celebrated five-time winner of the Ballon d'Or among other accolades that the player has received in his football career. This is probably the best part of managing their business that has been done in a decade, but there is more to be done in terms of player transfers, opportunities that the team needs to take up and concessions to be made on the financial front.

Concessions are the key so that Juventus can balance the costs of bringing over a star player like Juventus to the team as well as constructing a winning team around this star player. All this has to be done along with an eye on keeping the balance sheet healthy. They are considering the transfer of Gonzalo Higuain who is currently No 9 player of the team. This is mainly due to several reasons; though Gonzalo had won the MVP for the club this year as well as improved his game till the final third round, he has not been able to win all the hearts in the club. They also need a bigger star who can take the team over the line and that is what Ronaldo’s arrival would help to achieve.

Serie A holders Juventus are reportedly looking to reignite their pursuit of long-term target and Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin in the summer. The Spain international only penned a new contract with the Gunners back in November 2016, but he is weighing up his options after another poor Premier League season for the north London club.

Former Arsenal forward Paul Mariner has suggested that Hector Bellerin would be able to make better progress in his career, should he make the move to Juventus at the end of the season. The Spain international has not been able to replicate his sparkling form since a knee injury last term, but he still remains the first-choice right-back in the Gunners' ranks.

Speaking on ESPN FC, Mariner believes that the Old Lady should jump at the chance of signing Bellerin in the summer after having previously failed with an approach prior to his contract extension in 2016. Stephan Lichsteiner has been widely tipped to leave on a free transfer in July, and the 64-year-old has backed Bellerin to replace him with his pace being a key attribute of his style of play.

Juventus have revealed that they will be resting Gianluigi Buffon as he is still coming to terms with the huge disappointment of Italy failing to reach the World Cup in Russia next year.

The goalkeeping legend will not play for the Turin giants against Sampdoria on Sunday after the national side were beaten 1-0 on aggregate in the World Cup playoff meaning they would not be at the World Cup for the first time since 1958.

Italy’s recent 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign has seen them struggling after losing 0-2 to Spain on September 2 and one month later having to settle with a surprising and underwhelming 1-1 draw against Macedonia.

"We lost some players and lost a certain thread that we had in the first half, in my view. I thought the first half was positive, the second was not, but when you have nothing left in the tank, that's what you get. I think a lack of fitness levels made a big difference and when that drops, the sharpness goes, so we could not develop anything more. In football, when you don't propose anything in attack for an entire half, it can well be that you concede”