Allegri bemoans gossip as Evra rumours swirl

Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri refused to be drawn on the future of Patrice Evra amid speculation the veteran defender is set to leave Turin.

The 35-year-old has fallen behind Alex Sandro in the pecking order at Juventus Stadium this term and has been linked with a return to former club Manchester United, although Gazzetta dello Sport claimed this would most likely be in a coaching capacity.

The Serie A leaders face Bologna when their pursuit of a sixth consecutive domestic crown resumes and Allegri told a pre-match news conference Evra or Kwadwo Asamoah would take on the left wing-back role.

Beyond this weekend though, the former Milan boss was not keen to discuss Evra’s situation.

“I won’t talk about transfers, because that is down to the club,” he said.

“As long as players are at Juventus, they have to be at the disposal of the coach.

“There is some instability created by transfer gossip, so the less we talk about it, the better.

“I am against the January window, as it creates distraction and can destabilise situations during an important month of games.”

Juventus have already made an early move in the mid-season window by bringing in midfielder Tomas Rincon from Genoa.

“Tomas can play either in central midfield or just in front of the defence. He can become a big player for us,” Allegri said.

Allegri showed clear displeasure after Juventus lost the Supercoppa Italian to Milan on penalties in Doha last month, where he was seen in heated discussion with directors Fabio Paratici and Beppe Marotta at full-time.

“It was a normal situation of blowing off steam,” he explained. “It has absolutely nothing to do with my future or the transfer situation, those were totally separate.

“I praised the lads so many times for all they’ve done and all they are doing, so just once allow me to vent a bit. In a game like that, which can be lost if the opposition is better than us or prove themselves better on the day, my problem was after 35 minutes we left the building.

“We did not deal with the game at all and well and so our interpretation of the match is what irritated me. The lads have done more over the calendar year than anyone else in Europe, but on that occasion they didn’t understand the importance of the occasion.

“I got angry because they deserved it, for once in three years.”