From Football Italia
Juventus close Ballack door
Juventus have ruled themselves out of the race to net Bayern Munich star Michael Ballack. "We will not sign him," said general director Luciano Moggi.
The official also denied having ever made contact with Ballack or his club colleague Willy Sagnol with a view to luring them to Turin.
Juve have been repeatedly linked with a move for the duo in recent months, with the Bayern right-back at one point a virtual certainty to join the Bianconeri before a last-minute change of heart.
Indeed, Moggi’s wily transfer dealings was subjected to a scathing attack by Bayern President Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who famously said that he no longer wanted to work with the Juve director.
"I do not want to have anything else to do with Juventus general director Luciano Moggi," Rummenigge told Bild am Sonntag last month. "They are not gentleman. That is the Mafia."
Now, however, Moggi has put any attempts to sign any Bayern players down to Press speculation and denied ever having tried to persuade them to join the Stadio Delle Alpi outfit.
"We have never had any contact with Sagnol," he claimed today. "The papers spoke about it because we said that he was a good player.
"Ballack, meanwhile, says that we are trying to sign him in order to increase his wage demands. But we have never been after him and we will not sign him."
With the Italian champions out of the running to grab the Germany captain, it now appears to be a two-horse race between Inter and Real Madrid to secure Ballack’s services.