Antonio Conte has rejected suggestions that Juventus are overly reliant on striker Carlos Tevez, who came to the club only in the summer. The Argentine striker was a £ 10 million signing from Manchester City in the summer. He has been an integral part of the Juventus team that is now struggling to retain the title for a second consecutive season. The likes of Napoli and Roma are ahead of them in the table and it is only because of the goals from Tevez that Juventus have been able to maintain the pace with the table leaders.

Conte, though, has rejected suggestions that the Argentine striker is the only key men in the team. He has pointed out to the title success is that the team has had in the last two seasons as a testament to this fact. Signed in the summer, Fernando Llorente has found limited first-team opportunities before finally opening his account for the Italian club in the match against Verona. The former Athletic Bilbao striker is expected to play a key role in the upcoming matches.

Tevez have so far found the back of the return for occasions for Juventus with his latest coming in the 2-1 win over Sampdoria. He is one of the leading scorers in the Italian Serie A.

“Tevez is doing a very good job, but we shouldn’t forget that Juventus won the last two championships: we won one Scudetto undefeated and the other one as protagonists. At that time, Tevez wasn’t part of the team, therefore we should not take away from players who were part of the team last year because they have been determined and allowed us to win. Of course Tevez brought something more to the team in terms of skills,” Conte said after the Sampdoria match. Juventus next face Lazio in the league.