Delneri keen to strengthen Juventus defence

New Juventus coach Luigi Delneri admitted on Friday he is still looking to strengthen his defence following the departure of Italy’s World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro.

Delneri took over the Juve hotseat after Alberto Zaccheroni’s interim stint ended at the end of last season.

And before he even took the reins, Cannavaro announced he would be playing in Dubai next season as Juve’s bosses had not offered him a contract extension.

Although they have added Italy international centre-back Leonardo Bonucci from Bari and signed right-back Marco Motta on loan from Udinese, Delneri wants more.

“Our priority is to see if there are top level players to improve our defence,” he said.

However he added: “But on the transfer front things have stalled.”

One area that Delneri seems to be happy with is his strike-force despite their goalscoring troubles last season.

“There we have five players: (Vincenzo) Iaquinta, Amauri, (David) Trezeguet, Diego and (club captain Alessandro) Del Piero,” he said.

“They’ve proved themselves to be five players of a high level and I don’t think any of them is in decline.

“On top of that they have the desire to be committed and to put themselves forward, so we’re on the right track.”

However, when asked about the future of Brazilian playmaker Diego, who was largely regarded a flop last season after his move from Werder Bremen, Delneri was hardly encouraging.

“Football changes a lot and is complicated. We’ll try to tactically organise the players we have now but the transfer window is open and anything’s possible.

“If I have to keep Diego, then for me he’s a striker. It doesn’t seem to me that there’s much better out there.

“But then again, from now until the end of August, anything can happen but I’m not just talking about Diego.”