FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template

Injured defender Moreno Torricelli will miss Italy’s World Cup debut against Chile this week, but could be set for a new life in the English Premiership.

The Juventus stalwart has been grounded for 10 days because of a foot injury, but now looks certain to recover-if only for the second Group B match against Cameroon next week.

“I’ve been through some difficult moments, and at one stage I feared I wouldn’t make it because the pain wasn’t easing,” he admitted on Tuesday.

“But it was really only a painful bruise and therefore just a question of being patient. At the moment, I’m training on my own, but from tomorrow (Wednesday) onwards I should be able to train with the rest of the squad. That means I should be available for the second game, against Cameroon. In a tournament like the World Cup finals, there’s room for everyone.” 

France ‘98 aside, Torricelli’s future could be more English than Italian, following speculation that Juventus are interested in Real Madrid’s ex-AC Milan defender Christian Panucci. “The future is uncertain,” he admitted. “I have to see whether Juventus still want me. From what I’ve seen, Juventus want Panucci and that’s a fairly precise indication of the way things are.” I don’t really understand what’s going on. I know that there have been offers for me from three English clubs-Everton, Arsenal and Middlesbrough but it’s all a bit premature yet. “One thing is for sure, I’ll never join a team who are going to be fighting to avoid relegation,” said Torricelli, whose former Juventus teammate Fabrizio Ravanelli was relegated at the end of his 1996-97 season at Middlesbrough.

“And anyhow, this isn’t something I want to talk about now. I want to play in the World Cup finals, and do well if possible, and then decide what to do after that,” he said. “But if I was to leave Juventus, it would have to be for a club that I agreed to join.”