- Barcelona & Real Madrid courted Pirlo
- Milan sanctions nearly forced a move
- Man City and Chelsea also options
WHAT HAPPENED? Pirlo was twice on the brink of joining one of the Spanish giants, he told FourFourTwo, while English clubs Chelsea and Man City also tried to land him. In 2006, with Milan in the middle of a match-fixing scandal, the midfield maestro was close to signing for Los Blancos. Carlo Ancelotti tried to take him to Stamford Bridge in 2009, then another opportunity arose in 2010, when then-Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola pitched his project to Pirlo. The following year, a chance to join Roberto Mancini at Man City emerged, but he elected to join Juventus instead.
WHAT THEY SAID: Speaking about the transfers that could have been, Pirlo said: “I was very, very close with Real Madrid, but then we got told that Milan could enter Champions League qualifying and be readmitted to Serie A. I was offered a new contract straight away and the club did a lot to keep me.”
On his conversation with Guardiola, he continued: “He called me in [to his office after the game] and started talking about how he wanted to play and how he would like me to join his team. For me it was a source of pride, especially to talk to him and also to be compared to a Barcelona player. In the end, nothing happened, but being called by Guardiola into his office to talk was a wonderful experience.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE:On Chelsea and City's attempts, Pirlo added: “Ancelotti asked me to go with him. The two teams talked about it with my agent, and there was a big chance. But in the end, when it was time to sign the contract, Silvio Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani didn’t want me to go.
“I spoke with Juventus, with Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City and with other big teams, but in the end I decided to go to Turin because they had a good project to get back to winning ways."
IN THREE PHOTOS:
Getty Images
Getty Images
AAWHAT NEXT FOR PIRLO? After an unsuccessful tenure as Juventus manager, Pirlo now manages Turkish Super League side Karagumruk S.K.