Agent: Rodriguez nearly went to Juve
The agent of Porto winger James Rodriguez revealed that Juventus were on the verge of signing the player two years ago before abruptly ending negotiations.
By ESPNSTAR.com staff
Rodriguez, 21, was a reported target of Premier League club Manchester United although they did not follow up their interest with a concrete offer over the summer.
Juventus, on the other hand, were very active in the transfer market and signed close to nine players, including the likes of Paul Pogba, Kwadwo Asamoah and Nicklas Bendtner on loan.
And Juve were the first club to seriously consider firming up their interest in the Colombian midfielder but for reasons unknown to Bruno Carpeggiani, the Bianconeri pulled out of the deal way back in 2010.
The Colombian international is a star player at Porto and scored the deciding goal in the mid-week Champions League win over high-spending Paris Saint-Germain. And although Rodriguez is currently happy at Estádio do Dragão, Carpeggiani refused to rule out a potential move to the Serie A in the future.
"I can confirm it is true," Carpeggiani told tuttojuve.com. "The move was in the pipeline for some time. I do not like to talk about deals [that do not materialize], but Juve at the time were not the side they are now.
"You would have to ask [former Juventus chief scout Renzo] Catagnini why they did not take him.
"Porto is a club dear to James' heart, so it would need a very large sum to make him interested.
"Now that Porto have sold Hulk though, I could not deprive him [of a move]."