Cannavaro braced for Serie B
Tuesday 19th March 2002
Parma captain Fabio Cannavaro has attempted to shrug off speculation linking him with a summer move to Juventus by insisting he will stay with the Gialloblu even if they are relegated.
"I have a contract with Parma and I'm not worried about the idea of playing one season in Serie B," the Italy international said.
Juventus have been linked with both Cannavaro and his Italy team-mate Alessandro Nesta, but Cannavaro refused to discuss the possibility of joining the Turin club.
"I knew that subject would be brought up, but I have no comment to make about it," he said. "Now I only have to think about the future of my present team."
The 28-year-old Neapolitan almost left for Lazio in the summer when the Rome club offered Ł16 million plus Paolo Negro.
Parma rebuffed the advances of Lazio, who went on to sign Holland defender Jaap Stam from Manchester United, but speculation has persisted that Cannavaro, who signed a new contract until 2006 last summer, would leave the club.
Parma have struggled this season following the departures of France international Lilian Thuram and keeper Gianluigi Buffon to Juve, and Ł20 million misfit Hidetoshi Nakata has failed to impress since signing from Roma.
After a string of early season defeats had led to the sacking of Renzo Ulivieri and his replacement Daniel Passarella, Pietro Carmignani, in tandem with Arrigo Sacchi, has been been called on to steady the ship.
But following Sunday's 2-1 defeat at Perugia, Parma lie just one point above the relegation zone and have now not won in three Serie A matches since being dumped out of the Uefa Cup by Hapoel Tel Aviv at the end of February.
But Cannavaro remains convinced that his expensively-assembled side can still beat the drop.
"I was under no illusions that we would face a difficult season, but last Sunday at the Curi stadium we made too many mistakes and played worse than we should have.
"Anyway, I can assure our fans that gave everything we had. I repeat, I'm ready to play for Parma in Serie B if necessary, but now we just need to keep our concentration and try to do our best in the next few matches."
Things will not get any easier for Parma in the short-term. Carmignani's side face Juve, AC Milan and Roma in three of their next four matches as well as fellow strugglers Udinese, who lie one point above them in the table.
But Carmignani insisted there is still time for his team to turn the corner.
"The team went into the game against Perugia well prepared, even if the result was bad," he said. "I don't agree with the people who are saying that we didn't try to play at our best.
"Of course we are in a dramatic situation, but we must not give up. We have some difficult matches to come and the last few of them are against teams who are our direct rivals in the battle against the drop.
"But it's not the time to look behind us, we must only look to the future and keep our concentration."
Parma president Stefano Tanzi added: "It has been a really difficult season and the club also has to take some responsibility for this situation. When the club is not strong, the team can suffer as well."