Juventus transfer guru Luciano Moggi has announced that negotiations for Christian Vieri are in progress.
“There is an obstacle in our path to Vieri,” revealed the Director General, “and it is an economic one.”
Moggi is traditionally tight-lipped about transfer stories and only last month kept pundits guessing on Juve’s new Coach until he unveiled Fabio Capello as the man in charge.
The press speculation about the Bianconeri holding talks with Inter were brushed off by patron Massimo Moratti, but this time the Turin giants are not hiding their intentions.
“I will visit Forte dei Marmi to eat some nice fish soup,” he smiled, “but I won’t tell you who my dinner companion will be.”
It is well known that Inter chief Moratti is currently at the Tuscan seaside resort for a holiday, so more negotiations to whittle down the final details will take place over the weekend.
Moggi was also interviewed as he visited the Coverciano training ground, where the Italy squad is preparing for Euro 2004. He was officially invited along with several other club directors by the FIGC, but it’s reported he took the opportunity to discuss his plans with Vieri.
When told that the striker had insisted in a press conference that he knew nothing of negotiations for a move, Moggi made one of his traditional sly remarks.
“For a move to go through you need the acceptance of three parties: the player and both clubs. Those who say nothing are tacitly accepting a situation, so Juve are staying silent. Seeing as Inter are also refusing to comment, I’ll assume they are also making a statement of acceptance.”