Juventus midfielder Pavel Nedved insists he would welcome Dejan Stankovic to the club should his controversial transfer go through.Reports in Italy earlier this week suggested Juve had agreed terms with midfielder Stankovic and negotiated a fee with his club Internazionale, but the Bianconeri fans' anger at the proposed deal - which saw websites and phone-ins bombarded by messages of complaint - forced a rethink.

On Friday Juve coach Claudio Ranieri said he would be happy to bring Stankovic to Turin, and believed the fans would soon warm to the Serbian.

Now the 36-year-old Nedved has echoed his coaches comments, and insisted the midfielder could help the club win their first Scudetto since 2003.

"Dejan is very strong and I would like to play alongside him," Nedved told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.

"The squad is strong and can win, but we hope a few more big players arrive yet."

Juve supporters took a dislike to Serbia star Stankovic after he turned down a move to the Old Lady when he left Lazio in 2004.

Fans of the Turin club were further enraged when Stankovic enthusiastically celebrated Inter's 2006 Scudetto win, which came after the Bianconeri were stripped of the crown in the wake of the Italian match-fixing scandal.

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