Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus to headline Melbourne’s International Champions Cup in 2016

JUVENTUS and Tottenham will headline a revamped International Champions Cup in Melbourne next July, that will also include Melbourne Victory.

EURO giants Juventus and Tottenham will headline a revamped International Champions Cup tournament in Melbourne next July, that will also include Melbourne Victory.

The local powerhouse will be the first A-League side to feature and will kick-off the event against Juventus at the MCG on July 23.

The other change will be the addition of a fourth side, to be confirmed in February.

Paul Pogba and Harry Kane, two of the hottest young stars in world football, will light up the tournament with organisers revealing that Juventus and Tottenham will bring full-strength squads to Melbourne, including those featuring at Euro 2016.

Pogba, who is regarded as one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the world, has a transfer value of $150m, with Juventus’ managing director Giuseppe Marotta recently revealing that they rejected a $121m offer, believed to be from Barcelona.

Kane is the most wanted young striker in England and only Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero scored more Premier League goals that Kane’s 21 last season.

“The best of the best will be coming down here again and we’re really delighted to have convinced them to come to Melbourne,’’ said tournament organiser Bart Campbell, chairman of TLA Worldwide.

“Juventus and Tottenham between them have something like 17 players playing at Euro 2016, which finishes July 10.

“If you look at the quality across those sides, Juventus have just gone into the final 16 in Europe, into the knockout phase. They won Serie A last year, they were in the final of the Champions League, they’re a really strong side.

“If you look at some of the players they’re bringing down, Pogba was just offered 80 million (Euro) to transfer, they declined that number so he’s a real player, we look forward to seeing him here.

“They (the stars) are coming. Subject to injury, everyone’s available and required to be down here in Australia.’’

Victory chairman Anthony Di Pietro was ‘privileged’ to be involved and said coach Kevin Muscat will have his squad prepared.

“It will create challenges for us to build on our depth and the talent within the squad and that creates an enormous excitement for Kevin and the football department and our supporters,’’ Di Pietro said.

“We would hope that our performance has brought us to the forefront of being invited, so we’ve got a lot of work to do to be playing against the Champions League runners-up and the enormously followed Tottenham.”

Campbell said Victory’s domestic success and status made them the No. 1 target once they decided to have a local team, after Real Madrid, Manchester City and Roma played in 2015.

“If you look at some of the feedback from fans, there was a real appetite for a local inclusion, Victory are deserved partners to bring into the game, what they’ve achieved in domestic football is huge,’’ he said.

“Around the world the ICC has been setup on the basis that it is the best international teams in the market, once it’s established they look to include local market teams and we’ve tried to follow that formula here.

“Victory will add a lot to the event and I think they’ll be really motivated and they’ll give it a red hot crack and with some decent partisan home support behind them they’ll play to a really strong level.’’

Originally published as Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus to headline Melbourne’s International Champions Cup in 2016