Eurosport - Tue, 19 May 13:39:00 2009
Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro will return to Juventus from Real Madrid on July 1 despite widespread anger over the move from the Serie A club's fans.
Juve, who are also interested in signing Werder Bremen playmaker Diego, said that 35-year-old centre back Cannavaro, soon out of contract at Real, had signed a one-year deal.
Fans were upset by Cannavaro leaving for Real in 2006 when they were demoted for match-fixing, while other top players such as Alessandro Del Piero and Gianluigi Buffon stuck with the club for their season in the second tier.
A small group of fans have protested at recent matches against Cannavaro's return after club bosses admitted they were in talks with the 2006 European and World Player of the Year.
"I am sure I will be able to convince even the most sceptical fans thanks to my hard work, professionalism and passion with which I will approach this new adventure," the World Cup winner said.
Cannavaro won two league titles in his two years at Juve, but they were both revoked in the match-fixing affair.
"Fabio is a world champion, a Ballon d'Or winner and a great man in the dressing room," Juve sporting director Alessio Secco said in a bid to calm supporter unrest.
"During the summer of 2006 the club had to sell him for urgent economic reasons."
The Turin team, who sacked coach Claudio Ranieri on Monday and are at risk of slipping out of the automatic Champions League spots with two Serie A games left, are also hoping to sign Brazilian playmaker Diego from Werder Bremen.
German media said the deal was worth around £25.5m but the transfer was still up in the air despite weeks of talks, Werder's General Manager Klaus Allofs said.
"There are still open questions that must be discussed thoroughly," Allofs said ahead of the UEFA Cup final on Wednesday against Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk.
Allofs ruled out any decision before the UEFA Cup final, for which the 24-year-old is suspended.
Diego has steered Werder to the UEFA and German Cup finals with some exhilarating performances, which also attracted interest from Bayern Munich before they pulled out of talks last week.
Comment 21 - 40 of 40
The capitano di scouadra azzura has returned, not bad for the defence, but his actions when he moved to Real Madrid will never forget.
great player but he s shot,my dead granny can run faster than him
Spell check last message, should be 3 CL for English,hehehe
Forgot to add to my last comment, since 1985 I believe Italian teams have won 7 CL to English teams £, now that is more dominating than you English idiots. English dominate curry houses,pubs and kebab houses, that's all.
Comment 29 & 33, top comments boys, could not have put better myself. Without the foreign players in the EPL and the few good English (and I mean a few, like 6) EPL clubs would win jack @#$% as the dumb English say. They think they have dominated the CL, what jokers!! Italian teams were the first to get 3 teams in the semis I believe back in 2003 when Milan won the final and since English teams have done it twice and they still lost a final to an Italian team. Getting teams to the latter stages mean s!it if you don't actually win, records only say winners and maybe runners-up, no mention of how good English teams were to get to the semis you idiots. I agree your league is not only reflected in the CL but International level too, England are very mediaocre and have won NOTHINJG ZERO since 1966, so stfu and respect us as World Champions..and don't moan how we won it or who we played, we played whoever was infront of us and played the best semi anybody had seen for years, lots and lots and lots of attacking football, not defending like you stone age flintstones label us with.
The only thing English are better than us at regarding football is the way they police and manage the stadiums and lack of violence there is at them, respect from me for that just to show I am not biased. We in Italy need to learn that to get respect back in the footballing world I agree.
Forza Inter Forza Vale!!!
Why all the negativity? The man is an employee. He has a right to chose his employer. How do you feel if I was to tell you where you have to work?
stupid money lover has no loyalty to juve and juve want him back? this is a foolish
decision.. but what do you expect from serie A mafias..
BEL pa zed
To the idiot that said Cannavaro is returning to a club for old players. You are too stupid for words, get your facts right before you make silly comments.
Juventus or youth-entus have so many young players set to star for the Bianconeri in the future such as Lorenzo Ariaudo, Paolo De Ceglie, Fausto Rossi, Davide Lanzafame, Claudio Marchisio, Dominico Criscito and Sebastian Giovinco to name a few !!!! Italian players dont want to go anywhere near the S.H.I.T.T.Y premier league with the rubbsih training, too many foreign players and the diet etc.
Go ask your beloved Beckham why he paid from his own money to stay in Serie A. English fans, and players are a joke, fact. Ciao Ciao
Great, being a Milan supporter. Juve will have an "over glamourized un-talented" centerback. Oh well...more goals for Milan.
Spot on, student. I for one will be welcoming Cannavaro back. Forza Juve!
What are all the fans so pissed about: it was impossible for juve to keep all their top players, certainly with those salaries and without tv-money from serie A and CL. I have more respect for players who went to clubs abroad than those who chose to join a rival like Inter (Viera and Ibrahimovic). Cannavaro had every right to leave and the tifosi should welcome him as a bianconeri who returns home. No hard feelings!
Yes, Man U has a lot of British players... but who are the stars? Look, I'm not trying to disrespect British football. I'm actually a fan of the Premiership. I just can't stand it when people start disrespecting one league or another without thinking. The truth is that most Big clubs are loaded with foreign players. It's the only way that they can compete. Besides, European success goes in cycles. A few years ago, it was Spain that had the most successful clubs in Europe. Before, it was Italy. Right now, it's England. I am sure that things will change again in the future. That's just the way that it goes. As football fans, we should just enjoy the games and the players without throwing dirt at each other like a bunch of 5-year olds.
Forza Ferrari I dont know if you've noticed but Man Utd has a lot of British players.
rafascrackingup... just so you can shut your gob, Italian clubs are the most successful on a whole in the Champions League/European Cup.
An Italian club has been the most successful in the last 5 seasons as well... So check your facts before you go on a "we love the EPL" crusade.
Italian football may be a joke, but at least most Italian teams are filled with Italian players, except for Inter of course. Where would British clubs be without foreign players? Look at Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. How many of those team's stars are actually British?
The true measure of a country's football is at the international level, and Italy has done much better than England.
ENGLISH PLAYERS:.... NOT IN THE PREMIERSHIP..... NOT IN SERIA A.... NOT IN LA LIGA..... NOWHERE TO BE FOUND = S.H.I.T.T.Y ENGLISH PLAYERS
Italian league is a f*cking joke.Can´t even reach the quarterfinals of the ch.league HAHAHAHA
english premiership: ENGLISH STADIUMS + INTERNATIONAL OWNERS + INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS............. what so english about that?
paul C you talk B%#@ S#42 up until 2007 an italian side took it. since 2000 the italians took it twice, england twice and spain 3 times. So the statistics talk to themselves ignorant kid. just because there happened to be an english team in the final for 3 years in a row it doesnt mean ur the best in the world. just rich!!! and lucky. wait for next year dummo. english teams are just spoilt kids who buy all the toys they want. they dont know how to train their own talent. any one in the world could do it, given the money you have. so wait until ur luck runs out
nedved stayed, buffon stayed, del pierro stayed and yet the mighty cannavaro left. he then returns when things have gotten better for juve and wore for him. we dont want him back
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account