Former Czech national team star Pavel Nedved has decided to stay with the Turin team despite the fact that the club has been relegated to the lower Italian "Serie B" league.
Juventus got involved in a corruption scandal and as a result was relegated to "Serie B", also losing two consecutive Italian championship titles and starting the season with a 17-point deficit. However, 33-year-old P.Nedved is not planning to leave one of the most powerful Italian clubs, Juventus.
"I never doubted that I would stay at Juventus. I have offers from other clubs, but my family and I are settled in Turin. I owe a lot to the club and the Agnelli family (who own the club), who have always been by my side," the footballer said.
P.Nedved, who moved to Juventus from Rome's "Lazio" for 38 million euros in 2001, was linked to a move to Tottenham but decided to be loyal to the club and chose to stay in Turin.
The Czech, who played 90 matches for his national team, represented Juventus from the start of the 2001/2002 season and was the main attacking force when the club reached the UEFA Champions League final in 2003, where they lost to eternal rivals AC Milan.
According to the player, his goal now is to immediately bring the club back to "Serie A": "I want to bring Juventus back to Serie A because that's where this club belongs. Our trophies are deserved. We gave our all on the field, we have a great team and we defeated several strong teams. We won fairly and I'm proud of it."
One of Juventus' symbols, Alessandro del Piero, will most likely remain in the team, and the new coach Didier Deschamps stated that "Delle Alpi" will continue to play, as well as goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, forwards Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Trezeguet.
In addition, D.Deschamps is targeting club defender Gael Givet, who recently confirmed in an interview with the French newspaper "La Provence" that Juventus is in talks with him.
"I am not sure about my future at the moment," Givet said. "I have had some communication with Juventus, but it is not yet clear whether they will agree on my transfer with Monaco."
D.Deschamps' interest in French club player G.Givet is no secret, as he previously coached the Monaco team for a couple of seasons and even reached the Champions League final with them.