Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri is ready to leave the Italian champions this summer but prefers a move to Barcelona over Arsenal, according to reports.
The 49-year old is one of the highly rated managers in Europe and have led Juventus to two successive domestic doubles along with a Champions League finals over the last two seasons.
He has been considered as the prime candidate to replace Arsene Wenger at the end of the season as the Frenchman was expected to leave Emirates after 21 years at the club. But Wenger is yet to be offered a new contract at the club and their recent 10-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League do not help his cause to stay longer.
Arsenal will also be in the market in search of a new manager who could help them move back to the top in the Premier League as they have lacked the winning mentality in the recent years.
Juventus manager Allegri is one of the major targets for the Premier League giants as they are keen to sign the Italian who has made Juventus compete well against the European elite- Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the past two seasons.
But Spanish media outlet, Mundo Deportivo claims that the Italian is ready to leave Juventus this summer but prefers move to Barcelona than to London. Barcelona’s current manager Luis Enrique has announced that he will leave the club at the end of his contract which will expire in the summer.
Allegri is reportedly keen to take over at Camp Nou and manage the likes of Messi, Suarez and Neymar. It would take Arsenal, a hefty task to bring the highly rated manager to London this summer if Barca are keen to sign him
Barcelona director Ariedo Braida recently told Radioanch’io Sport: “Allegri is a friend and we know each other very well, but it’s really not something we can talk about – it’s all top secret.
“There’s a different name coming out every day in the Spanish media, from [Ernesto] Valverde to [Jorge] Sampaoli, from [Ronald] Koeman to Eusebio, who is coach of Real Sociedad and is a part of the Barcelona family.
“Everything is possible. It’s something I would prefer not to talk about.”