Allegri will be given contract extension: Juventus director

Coach Massimiliano Allegri will be given a new contract next week as a reward for winning the Serie A title, Italian football club Juventus' director Giuseppe Marotta confirmed on Tuesday.

Juventus were crowned champions on Monday for the fifth consecutive time as AS Roma beat Napoli 1-0.

The result thus left Juventus 12 points adrift at the top with three games to go. Neither Napoli or Roma would be able to catch them now.

This is Allegri's second title with the club and with his current deal set to expire next year, the management have decided to offer him an extension.

"Our relationship with Allegri is going really well," Marotta was quoted as saying by goal.com. "We are very satisfied with him and his work, and we will extend his contract."

"We do not want the coach's deal to expire, so next week he will sign the extension. The deal is just a formality as there is a mutual desire to continue to work together."

Marotta also said they want to be competitive in the European Champions League and added next year's team will have a mixture of youth and experience.

"We know it won't be easy though, because the level of the squad is high. We don't have big problems in Italy, but in Europe the competitiveness is more pronounced," Marotta added.

"It's not easy, the players in the squad are strong and it's hard to find stronger ones. We want to preserve this heritage which allowed us to achieve extraordinary results."

"There are many good youngsters, but don't forget our solid core: Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini. Then there's Patrice Evra and Sami Khedira. We want to create a mix of young and more experienced players."

--IANS

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