Juventus to ‘intensify’ pursuit of Liverpool’s Emre Can – Beppe Marotta

Liverpool midfielder Emre Can is remains a target for Juventus according to the club's general manager Beppe Marotta but a deal will not happen before the summer.

Can is out of contract at the end of June and the Bianconeri are keen on making him their first summer signing.

Talks with the player have taken place already and Marotta says these will now progress as they look to convince the Germany international to move to Italy.

'Emre Can is a player whose contract expires on June 30 and the rules permit us to enter into negotiations with his entourage,' Marotta told Sky Sport Italia. 'We don't know if he wants to renew [with Liverpool] and so we are going to do all we can to try to sign him.

'The player's desires must be respected, but we are going to intensify our contact with [Can's entourage] for sure.'

Juve have developed a reputation for picking players up on free transfers, with the likes of Paul Pogba, Andrea Pirlo, Kingsley Coman and Sami Khedira all moving to Turin when they were out of contract.

Juve did splash out over €90 million for Gonzalo Higuain 18 months ago, proving they are not afraid of spending money either, although Marotta says there is a limit to how much they can afford and a bid for Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, would not be justifiable.

'When you do this job, you've got to be ambitious and sometimes you may not succeed in pulling off certain signings, but that doesn't mean you mustn't try,' he said. 'Dreaming costs nothing, but then you've got to pay money for that dream to come true and that forces you to think.

'[Ronaldo] is an idea, but he's impossible right now. It would be too great a business risk, not just for Juve but for the whole of Italian football.'

Source: www.espnfc.com