• ‘Vucinic-Guarin deal was verbally agreed,’ says Juve official
• ‘Lack of respect shown towards two serious footballers’

Juventus reacted angrily and accused Internazionale of lacking respect on Wednesday after an agreement to swap players was called off by their bitter rivals 24 hours earlier.

Juventus had agreed to exchange the striker Mirko Vucinic for the Inter midfielder Fredy Guarin when the deal was halted by Erick Thohir, the Indonesian business tycoon who took over as president of the Milan club in November.

Vucinic had already cleared out his locker when he was given the news, the Juventus general manager, Giuseppe Marotta, said. “The Vucinic-Guarin deal was verbally agreed by both parties. [Juventus president] Andrea Agnelli received a text from Thohir at 10:48 [on Tuesday] confirming the deal,” he said.

“What is most striking, and underlines this negative situation, is the fact that when a player clears out his locker and takes his personal belongings, this obviously says that the transfer has been concluded. And that was something Vucinic had done.”

He added: “The main reason we called this press conference was the lack of respect shown towards two serious, professional footballers. My being here is a necessary act to protect Juventus and the professionals who have been treated unfairly.

“It’s the first time in over thirty years of dealing with players’ transfers that I have been part of an unfortunate situation such as the one which has been created here.”

The deal was stopped following a protest by Inter fans on Monday night.

The Montenegro forward Vucinic joined Juventus from Roma for €15m at the start of the 2011-12 season and helped the team win the Serie A title two seasons in a row.

Guarin has been at Inter since 2012 and has become a regular in their midfield.

• Juventus
• Internazionale
• Transfer window
• Serie A
• European club football

theguardian.com