What Will Juventus Do With Tiago?

It is widely known throughout Serie A followers that Juventus midfielder Tiago Mendes was one of the biggest flops of the 2007-08 season.

Big things were expected when the midfielder arrived on a €13 million transfer from Olympique Lyonnais last summer. However, the Portuguese international has never adapted to life in Italy and Juve have been trying to get rid of him since January.

First Juve tried to sell him to Tottenham and Atletico Madrid in the winter transfer window this past January, but the offers that were proposed did not meet Juve's demands.

This summer there was supposed to be a one-year loan deal to Everton on the table, but at the last minute the former Chelsea man rejected the move back to England. There are also reports that Tiago rejected a move to Porto in the past few days.

However, it was reported in Italy yesterday that Atletico might be back in the race for the Portuguese midfielder and that would be music to the Juve hierarchy's ears.

Tiago has fallen down the midfield depth chart behind Momo Sissoko, newly signed Christian Poulsen, Cristiano Zanetti, and Claudio Marchisio, has returned from a loan spell at Empoli.

It is clearly evident that Juventus are in desperation mode to get rid of Tiago, with the latest sign coming when he was left off of Juve's Champions League roster for the match Tuesday against Artmedia.

However, Juve manager Claudio Ranieri has done nothing but send mixed messages to fans, changing his view on Tiago on more than one occasion.

Just weeks after declaring him a "flop," Ranieri showed faith in the 27-year-old midfielder.

"Tiago is a golden boy and an exemplary professional, if he decides to stay I will accept it no problem. He has never spoken to me about moving away, he has been in talks with the club," the 56-year-old manager said. "He knows that I admire him and we will go ahead as normal."

It's vital that Juve get something for Tiago. It would be a waste for him to just sit on the bench and lower his value even more.

Being so far down in the pecking order, Tiago will only see action in a few games if he remains in Turin, likely as a fill-in during Coppa Italia games when the regulars get a rest.

Yet despite the rumors that Tiago is staying around, there are is also word out of France that Monaco goalkeeper Flavio Romo is claiming that the Portuguese midfielder is about to arrive in France.

"I have been told that (Alvaro) Recoba has arrived and that a deal for Tiago is practically done," Roma said.

Who knows if this is true, but with sporting director Alessio Secco in charge of transfers for Juve, there is always a level of uncertainty when it comes to transfer market activities.