Juve in for Lampard — Maybe For Real, This Time

By: Martha | March 16th, 2007

Stylin' Frankie Lampard. Back in December, the name “Frank Lampard” was flying around in the Italian press in connection with several Italian teams, primarily Juve, Inter and Milan. At the time, it seemed like your typical idle gossip — Lampard was without a contract extension, so football journalists pointed to the new FIFA rules that allows some players to buy out of their contracts after three years of service, and put his name together with some big international clubs just because they could.

Now, though, the connection seems a bit more than just conversation — clever paparazzi lurking outside an Italian restaurant in London yesterday caught Juve director of sport Alessio Secco and club president Roberto Bettega leaving the premises with one Steve Kutner, who just happens to be Lampard’s agent. Nice work, paparazzi! Of course, Kutner denied the meeting had anything to do with Lamps. Instead, he portrayed the dinner as simply catching up with old friends who both just happened to be in London. Riiiiight. For their part, the Juve brass claim their presence in England is about setting up relationships with (distinctly non-London) clubs like Middlesbrough, Bolton and Portsmouth, and has nothing to do with discussing specific players. Mmmhm. Sure it is.
La Gazzetta Dello Sport, having none of the excuses, see Lampard as a logical target, what with the demands of current Juve players that the club bring in big-name additions over the summer. Additionally, the recent decision by Juve’s board to free up an addition €100 million for running the club makes it difficult to see this little encounter as nothing but a friendly get together. In other words, in a classy, Italian way, the paper is screaming “LIARS! LIARS!” at Kutner, Secco and Bettega.