Juve get short Subotić response: CLICK!

Well... not exactly that short, but it may as well have been.

A couple of weeks back, we heard rumblings that mighty Serie A power Juventus were sizing up Borussia Dortmund center back revelation Neven Subotić. Depending on which Italian rag you perused, the former U.S. youth international was either being lined up for a January or summer 2009 bid from The Old Lady.

As it turns out, those articles were early on to something. NSC has learned from a source directly-in-the-know (who requested to remain anonymous) that Juventus did, in fact, make a phone call to enquire about Subotić on Monday.

The Bianconeri were essentially told that: a) the 19-year old defender was more than content with life at BvB and had no intention of entertaining transfer offers 10 games into his Westfalenstadion career & b) it would take mad sick money for the club to even consider not laughing in Bianconeri faces.

While it may seem crazy to turn one's nose up at a club like Juve to some, consider that Subotić has spent a majority of his life in Germany and that he only recently arrived at Dortmund on a $4.5 million transfer from Mainz 05, where he also played under trusted manager Jürgen Klopp.

And of course, the youngster has more than enough on his plate already, what with the Bundesliga race and a growing international status wonderment that he has remained mum about.

In the States, USMNT fans are increasingly panicked over the thought of losing the defender to an interested Deutschland - but I'm not sure the fuss is warranted. It seems unlikely FIFA will bend on Subotić suiting up for Germany on technicality (despite a recent passport acquisition) and the U.S. would seem to be at the very least least the former University of South Florida star's auxiliary choice.

Mind you, that's just a big picture gather - I hold no inside info on that topic.

- Greg Seltzer