Juventus capture Krasic, close on Aquilani

ROME (AFP) – Juventus on Saturday confirmed the capture of Serbia forward Milos Krasic from CSKA Moscow for 15 million euros.

The 25-year-old has signed a four-year deal while the fee will be spread over three equal payments of five million euros, the last due in July 2012.

Krasic, who represented Serbia at the World Cup in South Africa, had arrived in Turin on Friday to undergo a medical.

He revealed that he had turned down several other offers to join the Old Lady of Turin.

“I’m here to win things, I want to show that I’m an important player for this team,” he said.

“I had offers from Manchester City, from Fenerbahce and there was also interest from other teams.

“But from the moment that I knew about the possibility of coming to Italy, I had no doubts.

“It was a long negotiation, I first had contact with Juve more than two months ago and I quickly had faith in the bianconero club.

“My only fear was that they wouldn’t come to an agreement with CSKA Moscow.”

Juve turned to the Serb when Vfl Wolfsburg refused to negotiate over Bosnia forward Edin Dzeko, a deal which Juve general manager Beppe Marotta admitted is now dead.

“In the next few days we will discuss signing other players but with the signing of Krasic, the move for the Bosnian is finished, not least because the rules state we can sign only one non-EU player.

“But the real reason was Wolfsburg didn’t want to lose the player.”

The signing of Krasic is the seventh major Juve acquisition this summer including international defenders Leonardo Bonucci and Marco Motta, midfielder Davide Lanzafame, Italy winger Simone Pepe, forward Jorge Martinez and goalkeeper Marco Storari.

But Marotta said there will be more transfer activity at the club before the window closes at the end of the month, with Liverpool’s Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani close to joining on loan.

Liverpool announced on their website on Saturday that an agreement had been reached and Aquilani is due in Turin for a medical on Monday.

“There’s still 10 days until the transfer window closes and we still intend to make some signings and sales,” he said.

“We need a midfielder and a defender, probably central, with experience.

“We’re satisfied with what we’ve done up until now, there aren’t many opportunities but we’ll try to do something before August 31.”