Christian Poulsen: £4M Great Dane Ideal to Replace Mascherano at Liverpool

Javier Mascherano’s future at Liverpool remains in the balance despite the club’s declarations he is staying. However, the player continues to invite attention from Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona. The Argentine star is reportedly unhappy with his current wages and his family have struggled to settle on Merseyside. If Rafa Benitez was to cash in on the £30m rated defensive midfielder an extremely cheap alternative is readily available, that player would be the Danish hardman Christian Poulsen up for grabs for just £4m.

The Juventus midfielder has suffered from a poor first season in Serie A where he has failed to establish himself as a fixture in the first eleven and the club are trying to offload him with German outfit Hamburg and Turkish side Fenerbahce showing a strong interest.
In January he was strongly linked to a loan move to Fratton Park but the player himself rejected any move. He said, “As far as I understand, there has been interest from several clubs, but it is nothing I have considered,” Poulsen told Onside.dk.

“I signed a four-year contract and I am happy to be at the club. I have no plans to run away after six months.

“I have the patience and confidence that I will get enough playing time at the club.”

However, the 29-year-old Dane may not have a choice this summer as he has not enjoyed the best of times since joining the Turin giants in the summer amidst protests from the clubs fans. He is also one of the club’s high earners so new Juventus coach Ciro Ferrara may want to offload the midfield man to lower the wage bill.

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Mellberg Transferred To Olympiacos. Goodbye Olof

After only one season, Juventus bid farewell to Olof Mellberg. The Swedish defender was transferred to Greek side Olympiacos for €2.5 million.

Having joined Juventus from Aston Villa on a free transfer last Summer, Mellberg’s stay in Turin has come to an end with 37 appearances (27 in the Serie A, 6 in the Champions League and 4 in the Coppa Italia) and two goals, both scored at the Rome Olimpico against Lazio and Roma respectively.

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Amauri will be Italian in September

Juventus striker Amauri will apparently receive an Italian passport in September, making him eligible for a call up to La Nazionale.

The 29-year-old was born in Brazil, but has lived in Italy for nine years and has an Italian wife.

Having never been selected for Brazil he decided to apply for Italian citizenship to increase his chances of international football.

Missing paperwork has considerably delayed the process, which has been ongoing for over 18 months.

“On the first of September I will have an Italian passport and this for me is already and honour, because I have lived here for 10 years and I am happy,” he said.

“Then, as Lippi has said, once I have the citizenship I can be taken into consideration.

“To play for Italy would be a way to pay this country back for all it has given me.”

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Juve close to Grosso signing

Juventus expect to conclude a deal for Lyon and Italy defender Fabio Grosso by the end of the week, according to Il Corriere dello Sport.

The Bianconeri have been looking for a left-back all summer and appear to have finally settled on Grosso, who just returned from the Confederations Cup.

Grosso's agent, Giuseppe Bozzo, is said to be in Lyon at the moment, presenting them with Juventus' offer, which is thought to be around £2m.

Lyon will also receive first option on David Trezeguet should the striker become available.

Grosso has two years to run on his contract with the French outfit and earns around £1.75m a season.

He will have to take a pay cut if he wants to join Juventus.

The 31-year-old spoke about the transfer this morning and appears open to the move.

“Juventus are a great team. It would be a pleasure to play with them. Anyway, I am now with Lyon, another great club. We'll see what happens,” Grosso said.

channel4.com/sport/football_italia/

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Trofeo Tim Changes Venue Again: From Turin To Pescara

Another bit of the Juventus summer is in place. After the participation in the Peace Cup was confirmed (in Andalusia at the end of July) and the official news about the friendly matches against Cisco Roma (on the 15th of July in Pinzolo) and Nancy (on the 19th of July in Joeuf, France), now the participation of Juventus has also been confirmed in the 2009 edition of the Trofeo Tim which will be played on the 14th of August.

After the lucky parenthesis at the Turin Olimpico where the tournament was played last year, it will now move to Pescara at the Stadio Adriatico. The opponents of Juventus will be the usual ones, that is Inter and Milan and as usual the tournament will be a triangular one consisting of three matches of 45 minutes each.

Juventus.com

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