Alessandro Del Piero was linked with Manchester United when Juventus faced relegation to Serie B in 2006 but the Italian admitted that a stint under Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford was never on his itinerary.
Alessandro Del Piero said he rejected Manchester United to send a message to Juventus when the club faced its toughest period in history.
The 49-year-old Italian footballing legend joined the Turin stalwarts in 1993, after rising through the ranks of Padova two years earlier. He remained with the club for a mammoth 19 years, lifting six Serie A titles, four Supercoppa Italianas, and a coveted Champions League, scoring 290 goals in a club-record 705 appearances before parting ways with the club for Sydney in 2012.
However, times with the Italian side weren’t always bright, and Del Piero was part of the squad relegated to Serie B for the 2006/07 campaign for its involvement in the infamous Calciopoli scandal. In a nutshell, Juventus – among several other clubs – were accused of having selected favourable referees for certain fixtures to give them an edge in the game.
As well as being relegated to the second tier of Italian football, Juventus were also ultimately hit with a nine-point deduction to start the season as an additional punishment. And while a number of stars like Patrick Viera, Lilian Thuram, and Fabio Cannavaro decided to make a move away from the club to explore other avenues, Del Piero recently told the Shoot For Love YouTube channel that he wanted to tackle the challenge face-on despite interest from United.
He explained: “Me and some of my teammates – [Gianluigi] Buffon, [Pavel] Nedved, [Mauro] Camoranesi – we stayed, and we said ‘we’re accepting of the challenge’. At the time it was a big one.” When asked if he was ever tempted to join Manchester United in particular – amid rumours that Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to bring him to Old Trafford – the Italian legend admitted: “There was a time of course.
“Even if I spent 19 years with Juve, there was a tough moment. But then, at the end, I always decided to stay.” When probed on his reasons for staying loyal to his club, Del Piero explained: “There was different reasons. I was a Juve fan before I became a Juve player, and then joining Juve very early, beating records, becoming captain.
“What we faced in 2006, I was also a captain, so I wanted to send a message to everybody, and straight away I said ‘I’m going to stay’.” Juventus managed to finish first in Serie B in the 2006/07 campaign, achieving promotion back to Serie A immediately by winning 28 games, drawing 10 and losing just four.
The 2006/07 campaign remains the only season in which Juventus has graced Serie B in its rich history, but the fiasco wasn’t without its consequences upon returning to the Italian top flight. That’s because the side were unable to claim another Serie A title until the 2011/12 campaign, which was Del Piero’s last innings with his boyhood club.
The star striker made the move to Sydney FC in 2012, scoring 24 goals in 48 appearances before making the move to Odisha FC in 2014. Del Piero scored just one goal in ten games for the club before hanging his boots up for good.
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