Torino sporting director Davide Vagnati has been caught on camera screaming at and attempting to attack the club’s head coach, Ivan Juric, with issues regarding recruitment in the summer transfer window seeing tempers threaten to boil over. The Serie A outfit are currently in Austria as part of their pre-season programme, but preparations for the 2022-23 campaign do not appear to be playing out as planned.
Vagnati is prevented from sparking an all-out brawl with a colleague by the presence of another member of staff, with all concerned now trying to brush the unfortunate incident under the carpet, but divides have clearly formed in the camp as questions are also asked of who leaked the video from inside a venue occupied by players and coaches.
Watch: Torino sporting director scream & attack head coach
At one point, director Vagnati can be heard saying “I am the only one who defends you from that d*ckhead”, which appears to be a reference to club president Urbano Cairo.
He also says: “You just coach the team I give you, understand? I’ve had enough of you, you need to show respect”, with Juric making no secret of the fact that he would have liked to see more movement on the incomings front during the current transfer window.
Have Juric & Vagnati made peace?
After becoming the subject of unwanted attention and headlines in Italy, Vagnati claims to have “hugged it out” with Juric as the pair look to make Torino as competitive as possible for the upcoming campaign.
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He has told Sky Sport Italia: “There was a discussion, as you saw, it’s certainly not a nice thing to see, but when two people really care about doing things right, these things happen.
“The coach certainly wants the players as soon as possible, we in the club are trying to do what is possible in a difficult transfer market. We will bring the players that he wants.
“We said what we needed to say, we hugged it out afterwards. We are two real people, two very honest people who say things to people’s faces, so thanks also to these discussions we can start again in the best possible way for Torino.
“We have a great coach, we will try to do the right things as soon as possible, because it is true that we need to get more players.”
Quizzed on his “d*ckhead” quip, which many consider to have been a dig at president Cairo, Juric added: “When there are arguments, you say things that perhaps you don’t mean. That’s not the point, it’s about understanding why it happened, which is that we both want what is best for the club and we must try to give him the players as soon as possible.
“The coach has his concerns, they are legitimate, we understand that and will try to do what needs to be done as soon as possible.
“It won’t be 10 players, it’ll be less than that, but we need them to be the right ones so that we can complete the squad.”