Juventus director Fabio Paratici has labelled rumours linking the Old Lady to Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe as “fantasy football.”
He did not deny that the Italian champions are interested in the attacking duo, but he said that given it’s only February, there is no point discussing such links, per Radio Rai (h/t Football Italia):
“At this moment, it’s all fantasy football, it’s only February, so nobody knows what could happen in June. We are proud to have brought Aaron Ramsey to Juve, as he is a great signing.”
Paratici also discussed links to Inter Milan’s Mauro Icardi.
He revealed that Juventus enquired about the Argentinian striker in the summer, but he added they have not been in touch with Wanda Nara, Icardi’s agent and wife, after him being stripped of the captaincy recently:
“I want to clarify that over the summer we were not trying to disturb Inter as such and there has been no contact lately for Icardi. The action we took was to inform them that if Icardi were to change club, Juve could well be interested. These are things that all clubs do with many players during the transfer sessions.
“I also wish to point out there has been no contact lately with Mrs Icardi. We are in February, Icardi is an Inter player and we have an important next few months coming up. Any questions on the player will only be relevant or not in June.”
Per Goal, Icardi was replaced as Inter’s club captain by Samir Handanovic earlier in February amid ongoing contract talks and rumours linking him with a departure.
His deal at the San Siro runs to 2021, but it looks increasingly likely the 25-year-old could depart the club in the summer.
Since losing the armband, Icardi has not been included in Inter’s matchday squads for matches against Rapid Vienna in the UEFA Europa League and Sampdoria in Serie A, both games that the Nerazzurri won.
Icardi has been arguably Inter’s most important player since he joined them in 2013.
His Serie A record for the club stands at 109 goals in 179 appearances, and it is that level of consistency that has seen him linked with some of Europe’s biggest sides.
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