Italian champions Juventus have sold Romanian striker Adrian Mutu to Fiorentina for €8 million, the Turin-based club said in a statement today.

"The sum is to be paid in three years," the statement added.

Mutu signed a five-year deal with Juventus in January 2005 after being sacked by Chelsea in October 2004 following a positive test for cocaine and serving a seven month ban.

He had played for Inter Milan, Verona and Parma in Italy's Serie A before moving to England in 2003 in a $28 million transfer from Parma.

Juventus, at the centre of a scandal involving alleged match rigging in a trial that also involves Fiorentina, said his sale would generate a capital gain for the club worth about €6.8 million.