Antonio Conte vows to lead Juventus back to the top

New Juventus manager Antonio Conte has revealed his delight at being given the chance to coach his former club, promising to lead the Turin side back to the peak of Italian football.

The 41-year-old former Siena coach, who enjoyed 13 trophy-laden years at Juve before hanging up his boots in 2004, has signed a two-year contract with the Turin club.

Juve sacked Luigi Delneri last season after the club finished a disappointing seventh in Serie A for a second successive season.

“I always wanted to go to Juve,” Conte said. “It was my constant thought. I thank director general [Giuseppe] Marotta and president [Andrea] Agnelli. For me, it’s a homecoming.

“Arriving at a big club like Juve brings great satisfaction. I bring the principles of play, the ideas that have accompanied me on my journey.”

Conti, who led both Siena and Bari into Italy’s top flight from Serie B, added: “The main objective is to return to being contenders, in keeping with the history of Juve. We will do everything to take the club back to those levels.”

The former Atalanta coach remained coy over possible transfer targets at his first news conference. He said: “Targets in the transfer market? We will hold a meeting immediately with Marotta, [Fabio] Paratici and [Pavel] Nedved and we will start to speak about it in more depth. The most important thing is to spend correctly.

“In any case, there’s an excellent foundation of this side that’s hasn’t had the best of seasons, but I’ll also focus on the will to redeem themselves, in terms of who will remain. There’s no need to overhaul the side, just to make some adjustments.”

Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said of Conte: “His CV speaks for itself. He is an extremely charismatic and positive person, he knows the environment perfectly. He knows Juve better than me and is intelligent and informed.”