The friendly between Malta U-21 and Juventus U-19 has been called off, The Times has learnt.

Juve U-19 had been expected to meet Malta U-21 on Tuesday as part of a four-day training camp after the MFA agreed to cover the costs of their stay here.

Discussions between the youth sector of the Serie A club, spearheaded by Gianluca Pessotto, and the Malta FA were so advanced that Juve went as far as to inform Balzan Youths that they couldn’t accept their invitation to play another friendly as they had an “exclusive commitment” with the local association.

Balzan, whose financial backer, Australia-based Anton Tagliaferro, has good contacts with a youth coach at Juventus, were disappointed at the MFA’s stance but as things turned out, neither Balzan nor the Malta U-21 will get the chance to play the Bianconeri youths.

It is not yet known why Juventus U-19 have pulled out of their trip to Malta.

It is the second time in a week that a friendly involving a Maltese and Italian team has fallen through after Inter declined the opportunity to play Valletta in their final pre-season warm-up on August 21.

Whatever the reasons behind Juve’s withdrawal, news that their friendly has been cancelled will be widely seen as a setback to the preparations of Ray Farrugia’s squad, besides leaving the MFA in an uncomfortable situation.

The chances of the MFA arranging another friendly team look very remote due to time constraints.

In the likely event that Malta U-21 will not play an official warm-up next week, Farrugia is still expected to check his squad in a local hotel for a short training camp.

The Malta U-21 squad yesterday resumed preparations for their upcoming UEFA Championship qualifiers at home against Slovenia and Finland.

Malta’s senior squad will face the Central African Republic in a friendly at the National Stadium today week.