Andrea Pirlo has played down the effect of the Luis Suarez saga as he continues to train his Juventus team.
The former Italy international was named the club’s manager this summer after they fired Maurizio Sarri.
The midfielder was an inexperienced pick but he has started his time at the club on a positive note after winning his first game against Sampdoria.
One of the first issues he has had to deal with was that of signing a new striker after the club terminated the contract of Gonzalo Higuain.
They wanted to sign Luis Suarez from Barcelona and the Uruguayan took a controversial Italian language test to aid the move, as reported by Forbes.
The move fell through and there have been talks that the striker fraudulently passed the exams, a saga that rumbles on.
Pirlo, however, appeared unconcerned about it and claimed that they are happy to have signed Alvaro Morata this season who was always a priority signing for them.
“We’ve had a good week of work, better than the last one,” he said at a press conference for tomorrow’s Serie A match against Roma via Football Italia.
“We’ve upped the intensity and the lads responded well. The rest (Suarez) hasn’t affected us in the slightest.
“Dybala worked with us, he’s coming back gradually. We’ll see how he is today, he pulled through a heavy workload.
“We’ll decide in the afternoon whether to bring him with us or leave him behind so he can keep training.
“Changing the entire team after one game would be strange. I’ll try to play who I felt worked the best this week.
“I’ll name the team who, I think, are best placed to face the Giallorossi.”
He continued: “We were waiting for a striker to come in and he’s here now. I know Morata well, I was lucky enough to play with him: he was one of our priorities.
“On a technical and tactical level, he’s the player we were looking for. Pellegrini went to Genoa to get more game time, also in light of next year’s European Championship.
“De Sciglio’s available like he was last week.”
One player who is not in Pirlo’s plans is veteran midfielder Sami Khedira.
“We talked to Sami to understand what could be the best solution, for him and for us.”
