Juventus Fly Nedved To Italy In Club Jet
Wednesday 4th July 2001
Lazio midfielder Pavel Nedved is to cut short a visit to the Czech Republic to return to Italy with agent Zdenek Nehoda in an aeroplane owned by Juventus, intensifying speculation that he is poised to join the Turin side, according to reports in Prague.
Juve general manager Luciano Moggi appears to be undeterred by the fact that Nedved signed a new five-year contract at Lazio only last month, while reports in Italy suggest that the 2000 double-winners are trying to raise capital to sign Barcelona's Brazil international Rivaldo.
"We're just waiting to see how the situation pans out," Nehoda commented. "I can't say much more than that."
Nedved's website, meanwhile, offered a further hint that the Czech international's future lies in Turin. "When Juventus manager Luciano Moggi wants something, he will do everything he can to get it," his co-agent Luigi Canovi said.
The player himself is remaining tight-lipped. "At the moment I am a Lazio player," he said. "But who knows where I will be tomorrow?"
Juventus have, so far, refused to clear up the mystery as to why Nedved is supposedly using their jet.
A brave and busy competitor, Nedved emerged on the international scene at Euro 96, where he scored a goal in the Czechs' 2-1 win over Italy at Anfield.
A few weeks later, Lazio signed him from Sparta Prague and the rest has been one long success story, highlighted at Villa Park in May 1999 when he scored the decisive goal in Lazio's European Cup Winners' Cup final victory over Mallorca and again the following season as the Rome giants achieved the Double.
His achievements were acknowledged back in the Czech Republic when he was voted their Footballer of the Year the following season.
Within days of the resignation of Sven-Goran Eriksson, Nedved revealed that new Lazio coach Dino Zoff asked his advice about what system the Italian champions should play.
