‘Juventus don’t need Donnarumma’

By Football Italia staff

Massimiliano Allegri insists Juventus don’t need Milan’s Gianluigi Donnarumma - “Wojciech Szczesny is Gigi Buffon’s heir”.

Buffon suggested in an interview today that the 18-year-old would do well to join the Bianconeri, but the Coach dismissed the idea in his Press conference today.

“Szczesny is Buffon’s heir, I’ve already said that and I repeat it,” Allegri declared.

“Juventus did good business in getting such a good player and bringing him in a year before Gigi stops at Juventus.

“I’m very happy, there’s a good relationship between the two of them, they respect each other both as professionals and as men, so I don’t see any problem.

“Donnarumma is a young lad who has to grow, he’s at Milan and he’s forging his path. But Juventus have Buffon’s replacement.”

Allegri also gave an update on his team selection for tomorrow’s Coppa Italia quarter-final with city rivals Torino.

“[Miralem] Panic has been fluctuating a bit lately, because he plays a game then does half a training session. So he has to find consistency.

“Tomorrow we’ll have to evaluate whether [Stephan] Lichtsteiner will play - he trained yesterday, but we’ll have to see after that knock at Verona - or [Stefano] Sturaro plays full-back.

“We certainly didn’t play well against Verona. The result went well, the lads did well to get the result, but tomorrow and Saturday are games where we can’t get it wrong.

“We have to qualify tomorrow, and on Saturday we need to take three points from Cagliari, otherwise we’d be throwing away everything we’ve done.

“One of [Gonzalo] Higuain or [Mario] Mandzukic will be out tomorrow. One of them needs to rest because we have Saturday.

“Douglas Costa could be involved, or [Federico] Bernardeschi could play. We’re happy with his growth at Juve.

“And the final thing I’ll tell you is that [Daniele] Rugani could play.

“Now we have to qualify and then beat Cagliari on Saturday, so that we can go on holiday calmly.”

Could the Coppa Italia provide a distraction from the Champions League?

“No, the Coppa Italia is important because we have to reach the Coppa Italia final. The Champions League is a different competition.

“The team has won three and this year the aim is to go as far as possible. Tomorrow will be a difficult game, because Torino have a desire for revenge.

“They lost badly in the league and tomorrow will be an objective for them too because it could be a way into Europe.”

The Coach was then asked about the January transfer window.

“We’ll go on holiday then we come back on the 21st, with the window closing 10 days after that.

“As for the Juventus transfer campaign I think the director [Beppe Marotta] was very clear. Marko [Pjaca] will go out [on loan] because he needs to play.

“He’s a lad with extraordinary qualities and unfortunately an injury temporarily halted his growth.

“So he needs to find a team where he can play continuously and then return for next season in the best condition.

“I haven’t asked the club for anything, the more players I have available the more selection headaches I’ll have, so it’s better with 21 or 22.

“The important thing is not to drop our intensity, because there’s always a risk around the corner.”

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