Matri can fill striker void, says Delneri

Juventus boss Luigi Delneri believes new signing Alessandro Matri from Cagliari will be the ideal replacement for Fabio Quagliarella.

Quagliarella, who has scored nine times this season, sustained a knee injury during his side’s 4-1 loss to Parma last month, and Delneri believes the signing of Matri – scorer of 11 goals this term – is a perfect fit for the vacant striker’s position.

“I think Juventus have done pretty well as far as the transfer market is concerned,” Delneri said.

“I’m not giving grades as I don’t like to give grades. I can only give my opinion, which is excellent since we have acquired players who we were missing in certain departments either because of injuries or because of different skills.”

“We have compensated the loss of Quagliarella with an important player like Matri who has different technical skills compared to (Luca) Toni.”

With his side sitting in seventh place in Serie A, 13 points behind league-leaders AC Milan, Delneri said he is looking forward to regaining some familiar faces as they return from injury ahead of their game with Palermo on Wednesday.

“Tomorrow there will be a new player and by Saturday Toni should be recovered. Little by little the injured players will be back to support in terms of solutions, experience and positive energies,” he said.