Juventus Chief Reveals Club are Set for Showdown Talks With Massimiliano Allegri After Atletico Game
Juventus sporting director Fabio Paratici has revealed that Massimiliano Allegri is set for talks with club chairman Andrea Agnelli over his future after Atletico Madrid second leg, but rubbished rumours that failure in the Champions League would spell the end of his tenure.
Juve seemed to throw all their eggs in the European basket this term with the £105m signing of Cristiano Ronaldo and the return of Leonardo Bonucci, but they are now on the precipice of falling at the first knockout hurdle.
Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/GettyImages
They are currently 2-0 down on aggregate in their last 16 tie with Atletico Madrid, with the second leg scheduled for March 12th at the Juventus Stadium. But, speaking to Sky Sport Italia, Paratici denied failure to reverse this would result in Allegri's sacking.
"That's an urban myth," he explained. "The meeting we had with the coach after Madrid was nothing different to what we have every day and our face-to-face meetings are not necessarily negative.
"In fact, they are always very positive. I, [vice-president Pavel] Nedved and the president Agnelli are always talking with Allegri about Juventus and football in general. His future does not depend on the Champions League or the Scudetto, but it is dependent on a project."
The Old Lady opened up a 16-point gap at the top of the Serie A table with victory against Napoli at the Stadio San Paolo on Sunday night, but that could be their sole silverware this season, after they were knocked out by Atalanta in the Coppa Italia.
And Paratici then revealed the showdown talks that would take place following the Champions League second leg: "After the Atletico game, he will speak with the president and, together, they will see what route to take."
ALBERTO PIZZOLI/GettyImages
Following Sunday's victory, Allegri declared a lukewarm desire to stay with the Italian champions, though conceded it could be the end of the road after almost five years in charge.
As per Sky, he proclaimed: "As far as my future's concerned, when the president wants to, we'll talk about this year and next year. I'm happy to stay at Juve, but it takes two to agree on continuing. Maybe I say yes and they say no, or vice-versa. We'll see. There's still time."
