Juve put off by Balotelli price tag

Posted Tuesday, December 25, 2012 by ESPN

Juventus coach Antonio Conte won't make huge changes to his side in the upcoming transfer window - only "smart moves".

Juve are just one of several top Italian sides linked with a move for Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli amid reports the Italy international is pining for a return home.

Balotelli joined City in 2010 in a deal worth €22million from Inter Milan but the English champions valuation of the player is thought to be much higher currently - a type of figure which Conte would be unwilling to sanction at this moment in time. The Juve manager admits he will continue to look for bargain buys which add value to his team like last season's acquisition of AC Milan midfielder Andrea Pirlo.

Pirlo joined the Bianconeri in the summer of 2011 on a free transfer and played a vital role for Conte as he led Juve to the Scudetto last season.

This season Juve also managed to find another transfer marker gem when they snapped up Manchester United's Paul Pogba - a midfielder touted by Sir Alex Ferguson as a future France captain - on a free.

"Juventus won't make huge changes in January, we'll make smart moves, just like we did in June," Conte told Sky Italia.

"We'll try and improve on areas where we think we're lacking. If a good deal comes up, we'll make sure we don't miss out. Great players always add quality, improve the squad and make difficult things less so.

"Balotelli has all attributes of a great player but he costs as much as the Mona Lisa and we can't bring in certain 'characters'. Del Piero is unique and it'll be difficult to find someone who could emulate what he did here. I hope for the president that we can find a player like that. It would be like winning the lottery.

He added: "Juve are back winning things because we've started a project. We've planned in the right way. We've continued last season's work into the start of this term and I think we've laid excellent foundations."

"We want to entertain. I'm lucky enough to have a special group of players. With them I don't fear anything and so we rightly quite rightly dream of achieving the best we can. If we're good enough to achieve it, we'll have done something absolutely extraordinary."

Juve have also recently been linked with moves for Ivory Coast legend Didier Drogba and Shakhtar Donetsk forward Willian.