Barcelona snap up Juventus pair

Barcelona have completed the signing of defenders Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta from Juventus for a $25 million.<br>

كتب : Amro Hassan

الجمعة، 21 يوليه 2006 - 18:04
Gianluca Zambrotta
Barcelona have completed the $25 million signing of defenders Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta from Juventus.

The Catalan club confirmed on the official website Thursday that an agreement has been reached with Juventus to bring the pair to the Nou Camp.

Zambrotta was earlier linked with a move to Barcelona's rivals Real Madrid, but after Real coach Fabio Capello announced that he wasn’t interested in signing him, the 29-year-old signed a four year contract with the Spanish champions.

Barcelona are reported to have paid around $19 million for the Italian World Cup winner plus $6 million for Thuram who inked a two-year-contract with the club.

Following Real's capture of Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson, Zambrotta and Thuram are the latest to leave Juventus. The club is facing an exodus of talent after being demoted to Serie B abd given a 30 point deduction, due to their involvement in the match fixing scandal that rocked Italian Football.