Juventus trio face late fitness tests
Reuters - Friday 27 January 2012, 12:09
Brief news on Friday
ahead of this weekend's Serie A matches:
Leaders Juventus are set to complete the signing of
Sevilla defender Martin Caceres once the Uruguayan has had a
medical examination, the club said.
"Martin Caceres is undergoing his medical test in Turin,"
read a statement on the club website on
Friday.
Caceres, who played for the Turin club in the 2009/10
season, would become Juve's second signing in the January
transfer window following the acquisition of striker Marco
Borriello from Roma.
Claudio Marchisio, Simone Pepe and Mirko Vucinic will
undergo late fitness tests for Saturday's top-of-the-table clash
with third-placed Udinese.
Udinese face a crisis in midfield ahead of the Juventus
game.
Chilean winger Mauricio Isla is struggling to make the trip
to Turin after bruising his left leg while Giampiero Pinzi has
been ruled out for two weeks with a calf strain.
With Ghanaian Kwadwo Asamoah and Nigerian Emmanuel
Agyemang-Badu competing at the Africa Cup of Nations, coach
Francesco Gudolin could give 19-year-old Cristian Battocchio a
rare start.
AC Milan's managing director Adriano Galliani has given
Manchester City a deadline on Friday to accept the
club's bid for striker Carlos Tevez, with Catania's Maxi Lopez
waiting in the wings.
"We will have someone by Friday,"
Galliani told Milan Channel. "I can tell you he will be
Argentine with a surname ending in 'z'."
Second-placed Milan hope to have goalkeeper Christian
Abbiati back from injury for Sunday's visit of Cagliari
but are likely to be without German midfielder Alexander Merkel
who suffered a knee injury on Thursday when the Rossoneri set up
an Italian Cup semi-final with Juventus by defeating Lazio 3-1.
Milan scooped the top prizes at Italy's players' awards for
2011 on Monday with Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic winning
best player in Serie A, Thiago Silva voted best defender and
Stephan El Shaarawy best player in Serie B.
Fiorentina's new striker Amauri has denied delaying his
move from Juventus in the hope of receiving a better offer from
AC Milan.
The Brazilian-born player, who has not figured at all this
season for Antonio Conte's Juventus, finally signed a deal with
struggling Fiorentina on Tuesday after a long, drawn-out
process.
"I'm happy to be in Florence," Amauri told reporters at his
official presentation. "I was offered a two-and-a-half-year
contract but I signed for six months as I wanted to first prove
myself as a Fiorentina player. What's been said about waiting
for Milan is just not true."
Amauri could team up with Stevan Jovetic in attack for
Sunday's Tuscan derby against Siena should the
Montenegrin recover from the muscle strain that led to him
missing last weekend's goalless draw at Cagliari.
Twelfth-placed Parma have signed Stefano Okaka on loan
from Roma with the option of buying the Italian striker outright
at the end of the season.
The 22-year-old, who has already been loaned out to Modena,
Brescia, Bari and Fulham, goes into new coach Roberto Donadoni's
squad for Saturday's trip to Catania.
Sixth-placed Roma have converted striker Fabio Borini's
loan into a co-ownership deal with Parma. With three goals this
season, the 20-year-old looks set to keep his place in Luis
Enrique's starting line-up for Sunday's visit of Bologna.