JUVENTUS, newly promoted to Serie A, are expected to make an approach to Claudio Ranieri to succeed Didier Deschamps as their head coach. The Italian giants will also consider former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson among the alternatives.

Juve, who have been turned down by former coach Marcello Lippi in the week since Deschamps dramatically resigned, hope Ranieri’s doubts over a possible role at Manchester City will push him to accept the job of steering them back towards the summit of Italian football after their punitive relegation to Serie B last July.

Ranieri stepped down at Parma last week after fulfilling a six-month contract and guiding the club out of relegation trouble. Within days he was meeting representatives of Thaksin Sinawatra about the former Thai prime minister’s plans to put together a takeover bid for City.

Ranieri is keen to return to the Premiership, where he took Chelsea to second place and to a Champions League semi-final in 2004.

“I would like to go back,” he told The Sunday Times. “England was amazing for me and my family and we had a nice life there. I like English football and I like English people.”

It is also believed Sinawatra would offer the former Chelsea manager greater financial rewards than Juventus are prepared to offer. Ranieri’s stock has risen significantly in Italy through his work at Parma, who he joined at the beginning of February when they stood second from bottom in the table. They finished 12th.

Eriksson, who has been out of work since he left the England job after the 2006 World Cup, has a good reputation in Italian football, where he led Lazio to the league title in 2000 after spells with Sampdoria, Fiorentina and Roma.

Francesco Guidolin, who made Palermo a genuine force in the first half of the Serie A season, is also said to be under consideration by Juve. If Ranieri takes over at Manchester City his first task could be to sell the club’s best player, midfielder Joey Barton.

Barton yesterday tried to play down his reputation for indiscipline and violence as he admitted his Manchester City career looks to be over.

He said: “If the club decided that they don’t want to keep me and they want to accept an offer then so be it.”