Allegri denies exit rumours

MILAN: Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri on Saturday dismissed talk he is about to quit the Serie A champions, hitting back at the criticism he received following his side’s Champions League quarter-final exit at the hands of Ajax.

“Sometimes I wonder if I hadn’t managed to bring home some trophies in these years, what would have happened?” asked the 51-year-old, who recently won his fifth league title is as many years. “Maybe they would have impaled me and burnt me at the stake.”

Allegri, speaking ahead of his side’s Serie A trip to Roma on Sunday, said he was due to meet with club chairman Andrea Agnelli to discuss his plans for next season.

“I have already told the chairman that I would like to stay, but now we need to talk,” he said. “I have had the new Juventus in mind for six months, but first I need to meet Agnelli to see if we agree.” Juventus, who were also booted out of the Coppa Italia by Atalanta, have been linked with the return of Allegri’s predecessor Antonio Conte, who won the first three of their current run of eight titles in a row.

Other names reported in Italian media include Lazio boss Simone Inzaghi, Champions League finalist Mauricio Pochettino and France coach Didier Deschamps.

“Rumours about my successors are part of the game,” said Allegri, who also won the league with AC Milan in 2011.

“I am grateful to the chairman and he also said he wanted to continue with me. I told him before Ajax that I would stay. I owe him and club.”