Ranieri wants to boost his squad with the addition of a goalkeeper and a midfielder before the new Serie A season gets under way next month.

And he reckons Stankovic could be the man for the midfield role.

"He is a universal player of great quality," said Ranieri.

"He knows how to play in every role in midfield. The bad humour of some fans will pass after a couple of good performances."

Reports in Italy earlier this week suggested Juve had agreed terms with midfielder Stankovic and negotiated a fee with Inter, but the Bianconeri fans' anger at the proposed deal - which saw websites and phone-ins bombarded by messages of complaint - forced a rethink.

Juve supporters took a dislike to the Serbia star after he turned down a move to the Old Lady when he left Lazio in 2004.

Fans of the Turin club were further enraged when Stankovic enthusiastically celebrated Inter's 2006 Scudetto win, which came after the Bianconeri were stripped of the crown in the wake of Italian match-fixing scandal.

Another player heavily linked with a switch to Turin has been Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, but the price tag on the Spain international's head looks to have been a sticking point.

"Looking at reinforcements I can say that we are only missing a reserve keeper and a midfielder," said Ranieri.

"In midfield we will choose a player who gives me the possibility to change the system.

"For Xabi Alonso, you're talking about an investment of 30 million and so we have to take the right time to evaluate it. I will choose the right midfielder who will allow me to vary our system and to better the squad."

Ranieri has set his sights on winning the Scudetto this season after a third-place finish last term - 13 points adrift of Inter who claimed the title for the third successive campaign.

"We don't have any taboos, not even the Scudetto," he said. "We have to be ambitious, already last year we started to think about it, this year we will aim to win it.

"I hope Juve don't change much from last year. We need to improve and the new arrivals have to bring in technical and battling qualities to a group that's already competitive.

"We have to be ambitious, starting from the Champions League preliminary round which we absolutely want to win."