Giorgio Chiellini has revealed that he was ‘close’ to leaving Juventus for Real Madrid or Manchester City earlier in his career.
Chiellini has gone on to be a key figure in Juve’s run of eight straight Scudetti, but he admits he almost left the club before they won their first in 2012.
Ultimately, the 35-year-old claims Madrid preferred to sign Ricardo Carvalho from Chelsea, while ‘nothing came’ of interest from City, who were managed by Italy CT Roberto Mancini at the time.
Giorgio Chiellini has revealed that he was ‘close’ to leaving Juventus for Real Madrid or Manchester City earlier in his career.
Chiellini has gone on to be a key figure in Juve’s run of eight straight Scudetti, but he admits he almost left the club before they won their first in 2012.
Ultimately, the 35-year-old claims Madrid preferred to sign Ricardo Carvalho from Chelsea, while ‘nothing came’ of interest from City, who were managed by Italy CT Roberto Mancini at the time.
“I was close to leaving Juventus on two occasions, in 2010 and 2011. I happened to think about it,” he wrote in his upcoming autobiography, ‘Io, Giorgio’.
“On the first occasion I was close to Real Madrid, the second occasion to Manchester City. I was very close with the Spaniards.
“My agent had talked to a Real representative, but Mourinho had just arrived and demanded the purchase of his compatriot, Ricardo Carvalho.
“Juventus were happy to keep me. Marotta had just arrived. On the second occasion I met a City executive in Milan, but nothing came of it.”