Juventus GM Beppe Marotta says they were always going to sign Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli.

The Bianconeri signed the Napoli striker this summer after they activated his €90m buyout clause, before selling Paul Pogba to Manchester United for €105m.

"I know [Napoli President] Aurelio [De Laurentiis] well," Marotta told Rai.

“He is a passionate man and with Higuain there was a lot of controversy surrounding his move to Juventus.

“We did everything above board though, alerting Napoli that we were prepared to pay the buy-out clause which we then did.

“It's not true though, that this move was closely linked to Paul Pogba's departure.

“We could have done the deal and still retained him, because in the past five years under the management of Andrea Agnelli our turnover has more than doubled, and we have considerable muscle if we want to buy new players.

“Mino Raiola [Pogba's agent]? We have a love/hate relationship with Mino, but even if he sometimes makes exorbitant demands we still work well together as he is a sincere person and always speaks his mind."