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Munich club president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge admitted that rumors about the transfer of Bayern's defender Robert Kovac to Turin may come true.
The 31-year-old Croatian's contract with Bayern expires this summer, and the club acknowledges that they are unlikely to reach an agreement on its extension, so Kovac should become a free agent and will be able to choose a new team.
"I don't know what Kovac did - some in Germany say he has already signed a contract with Juventus, others say he hasn't done anything yet. Honestly, I don't know what to believe," Rummenigge said.
According to rumors, Croatian national team defender Kovac was supposed to sign a three-year contract with the Italian club, earning around 1.5 million euros per season.
"We know that he received an offer from Juventus. We presented our offer earlier, but if we believe the player's agent, Juve's offer was better. If the amount mentioned by the agent is correct, then we cannot compete, we cannot afford to pay Kovac's salary," said the Bayern president.
Italian football's "Old Lady" is trying to renew their defense for the next season and is looking for replacements for the central defensive pair of L. Thuram and F. Cannavaro - the only people who could currently replace them are P. Montero and veteran C. Ferrara, as N. Legrottaglie, M. Iuliano, and I. Tudor left the team in January.
Since Uruguayan Montero no longer plays as reliably as before, and 38-year-old Italian Ferrara is close to retiring, Juventus has started looking for new faces, with experienced R. Kovac appearing to be the latest target.
Meanwhile, Bayern wants to replace Kovac with defender R. Huth, who is only a substitute at his London club and it is unlikely that he will be able to break into the starting lineup in the near future. Negotiations regarding the German have stalled, as the English team's coach J. Mourinho would like Huth to stay, but the situation could change if the player requests a loan.
