Coach Allegri asserts Juventus at par with Barcelona, Real, Bayern

Juventus head coach Massimilano Allegri on Saturday claimed that they are at par with Spanish football powerhouses Barcelona and Real Madrid, rubbishing calls of transfer of big names for the next season.

Allegri, who officially extended his contract to June 2018 on Friday, insisted on having quality players in the side instead of focusing on the quantity of transfers after every season.

The 48-year-old also reckoned that there is no reason a player should leave Juventus, who have sealed five consecutive Serie A titles.

"Juventus are at this moment on the same level as Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, so I don't see why any player would want to leave Juventus," he was quoted as saying by football-italia.net.

"We can improve further next season not just in terms of quality, but also in mentality. Don't forget we had players come in last summer from the likes of Palermo, Sassuolo and Marseille, so they took a while to understand the mentality of Juventus.

"It's not as if we need 10 new players. It's about quality and not quantity, you need just two or three top players."

The coach is also yet to know the future of forward Alvaro Morata. There are rumours that Real Madrid could utilise their buy-back clause to bring the Spanish international from Juventus and sell to the club offering the highest price.

However, the coach does not doubt the quality of Morata even though the 23-year-old is not the top two preferred attackers in his team.

"I don't know where Morata will end up, just that he can grow so much and is too inconsistent psychologically," he felt.

"He was decisive in the Champions League group phase, then went into hibernation and returned. He can be one of the best on a European level," he added.

The coach also shed light on the composition for Sunday's away match against Verona. He said that midfielder Sami Khedira will not play due to injury, while Neto will don the gloves in place of rested Gianluigi Buffon.

Allegri hailed Verona captain Luca Toni -- the 2006 World Cup winner will play his final match of his 22-year career on Sunday.

--IANS

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