Fabio Paratici shoots down every and all Pep Guardiola rumors

Now that Juventus’ season is officially over, the club’s search for their next manager is going to take center stage. And seeing as the Serie A title was clinched over a month ago, one could argue that much of Juventus’ talk has revolved around who will be managing the team next season — and that’s even before Max Allegri stepping down at the end of the season actually became an official news item.

There have been names linked to the job — some that would be labeled as pipe dreams and others more obtainable targets simply because managing at Juventus is a clear step up in their respective careers.

While we’ve heard plenty of rumors, it’s not like the people who will be making the final decision as to who will be Juventus’ next manager have been talking a lot about the whole situation over the last couple of weeks. That was until right before Sunday’s season finale against Sampdoria when Director of Football Fabio Paratici spoke to DAZN about the managerial hiring process — including a strong denial that Juventus has had any kind of contact with current Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.

“We don’t need to create headlines or go for one upmanship, we just have to build the best possible squad. We will act in accordance with the directives of our new Coach, so must wait for him before we make any moves.

“We have clear ideas and are evaluating the situation. Until all the competitions have concluded, it seems only fair to remain quiet, out of respect for everyone.

“It’s a strange world, this. We’ve never had contact with Guardiola and never thought about him. He is under contract, so it all seems very strange. We know this is what our world is like and we have to accept that.”

(Source: Football Italia)

Outside of all the Pep chatter, the “Until all the competitions have concluded” aspect of Paratici’s quotes is what have a lot of people raising their eyebrows seeing as two of the biggest names linked to Juventus over the last week and a half — Maurizio Sarri of Chelsea and Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino — are still coaching their respective teams and preparing for European cup finals.

Another notable thing: Because their top candidates are in likelihood still talking, it’s interesting to see Paratici point out how there’s no rush on things at all. As much as the Italian press has talked about potential buyout prices and how Juve have made contact with Manager X or Manager Y, based on what Paratici is saying is that the phones are blowing up with calls left and right as much as some much want you to think they would be.

Final conclusion of Paratici’s interviews: Paratici hasn’t talked to Pep Guardiola — at all; Juventus’ next manager is probably somebody that is already coaching somewhere else, be it in England or Italy; Juve management don’t seem to be in any kind of rush to get something done because those candidates are currently coaching.