Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri declined to give comments on multiple reports in Italy yesterday that the Italian champions had signed striker Gonzalo Higuain from Serie A rivals Napoli.

Allegri was facing reporters after his team’s penalty shoot-out loss to Melbourne Victory following a 1-1 draw in the opening match from the International Champions Cup in Australia.

Asked whether Higuain had undergone a medical and that Juventus were ready to pay the full €94 million release clause, Allegri said it was not the right moment to talk about transfer news.

“I do not talk about transfer market news,” he said.

“The club will make comment on that. The only thing I’ll talk about tonight is the game.”

If the deal goes through, Higuain will become the biggest ever signing for a Serie A club and the second most expensive player in football history.

In 2013, Real Madrid paid €100m for Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur.

Allegri was also asked about the future of midfielder Paul Pogba but turned down the questions.

“As I said before, I’m not going to talk about transfer news here,” he repeated.

“We just had a game. I’m not sure what’s happened in the transfer market during the last few days, so once again I prefer to have questions about the game.

“It was a decent workout for us. I’m happy with how our youngsters performed this evening.”

Juve opened the score through an extraordinary Carlos Blanco lob from midfield.

They had to do without the internationals who took part in Euro 2016 and Copa America but new signings Medhi Benatia and Mira-lem Pjanic were on the bench.

An inexperienced Juve squad eventually surrendered their lead after a quick passing move from Melbourne Victory, finalised by Jai Ingham’s angled drive.

Roman Macek and Stefano Pado-van missed penalties for Juve.