Juventus may decide to cut their losses on summer signing Tiago
Mendes and sell the midfield flop in January.
The Portuguese international was Juventus most expensive
acquisition for the new season as the Bianconeri forked out almost
£9.2m for the Lyon man.
Tiago was expected to provide the Juventus midfield some
much-needed power after the loss of Patrick Vieira and Emerson in
2006.
However the ex-Chelsea man has been a complete disaster in Turin
and Ranieri has made it perfectly clear that he does not fancy the
player by picking the likes of Cristiano Zanetti and Antonio
Nocerino ahead of him.
Reports in todays Corriere dello Sport claim that Juventus will
cut their losses and let Tiago go in January for a cut-price deal.
As a replacement Ranieri will be handed 20m to find his man.
The favourite to take Tiagos position at the club is Boca Juniors
midfielder Pablo Ledesma. The 23-year-old is rated highly in
Argentina and recently made his debut for the national side in the
game with Chile earlier this year.
Another option could be to bring back Italy Under-21 international
Claudio Marchisio, who has been sent out on loan to Empoli. The
21-year-old played a prominent part in Juventus Serie B promotion
campaign last year but was sent to Tuscany to free up space for
Tiago.
