Juventus are not in talks to sign Edin Dzeko from Roma, Goal understands, despite rising tensions between the striker and his club.
The capital club have had a humbling week. On Friday, Roma were handed an automatic 3-0 defeat after making an illegal substitution in Tuesday's Coppa Italia last-16 match at home to Spezia - which they had lost 4-2 anyway.
Team manager Gianluca Gombar was sacked by Roma after the debacle. Corriere dello Sport reported that Dzeko and some team-mates had decided not to train in protest at his removal, with a three-hour meeting required to bring the players back round.
However, while training did eventually go ahead, Dzeko has not been included in the matchday squad to face Spezia again in Serie A on Saturday.
The Bosnian was close to joining Juventus over the summer but, while he may still leave Roma, Andrea Pirlo’s side won’t be making another move.
Juventus had a €16 million (£15m/$19m) deal agreed to sign Dzeko last year. However, complications in Roma’s attempt to sign Arkadiusz Milik from Napoli as a replacement meant that the deal never went through.
After flirting with Luis Suarez, Juve eventually signed Alvaro Morata instead, while Milik has this week left Napoli to join Marseille.
With Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala and Morata, Juve are reasonably well stocked in attack but are still keen to add a fourth striking option to their squad – but their pursuit of Dzeko is a thing of the past.
Roma, meanwhile, are set to add to their own attacking options with the return of Stephan El Shaarawy, according to Sky Sport Italia.
The 28-year-old winger, who played more than 130 times for Roma between 2016 and 2019, is seemingly set to return on an initial loan deal from Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua. He has reportedly already travelled to Italy to undertake a medical and complete paperwork.
El Shaarawy came through the youth academy at Genoa before moving to AC Milan in 2011. He made his name at Milan before loan spells with Monaco and Roma, eventually moving to Roma on a permanent deal before leaving for Shanghai in 2019.
Roma are also close to completing the signing of 19-year-old defender Bryan Reynolds from FC Dallas, who had previously seemed set to join Juventus.