Barzagli explains why he rejected Juventus offer
The former Juventus defender was offered to play for the Bianconeri in their next campaign.
Having spent eight years at Juventus,
Andrea Barzagli
retired from professional football in 2019. The experienced defender was linked with a move back to Turin this summer, but he
decided against joining his former side.
In a new interview with
Tuttosport
, the 40-year-old has spoken about Juventus’ recent offer and his decision to leave the club back in 2019.
“To accept a role like this, something inside you must immediately snap and in my case, it wasn’t like that,”
Barzagli said
. “I’m happy to see Padoin in the staff, Simone is very prepared.”
Barzagli was contracted until 2022 when he decided to leave Juventus. Many observers suggested there was a fallout between Barzagli and Maurizio Sarri, who was in charge of the Bianconeri. However, the former Azzurri defender, insists he did not have a quarrel with the former Chelsea boss.
“I have heard so much about my farewell,”
he said.
“But the truth is that there has been no quarrel between me and Sarri.
“Maurizio is a person with whom it’s pleasant to talk football, he knows it very well. He likes to teach football and has his own idea.
“At Juventus he was not lucky enough to be able to put it into practice, but in the end he won anyway. At Lazio, he has players with characteristics that can follow him. I’m convinced he will do well.”
Barzagli, who is currently working as a pundit for DAZN, is excited about the new Serie A season.
“It will be a good championship. [Jose ]Mourinho is back, [Simone] Inzaghi is at Inter, [Luciano] Spalletti at Napoli. And Juventus have restarted from a certainty: Allegri.”
Asked about his experience of working with Massimiliano Allegri, Barzagli responded:
“He’s an atypical coach, because in the moments of maximum tension he always manages to joke and play it down,
“It’s his strength. As he repeated: being a coach is an art and you have to be a little bit cunning. He told me we played in three, but in practice he made me play right-back in recent years.
“[Mario] Mandzukic, in the season of Cardiff and the 4-2-3-1, was so convinced to play on the left that when [Gonzalo] Higuain wasn’t there, he was unwilling to go back into the middle. Allegri had convinced us all in one way or another.
“And he got the most out of us, which is even more important than the tactical aspect. Each coach must deal with 25 heads differently and they all want to play, but there’s only 11 of them on the pitch.
“This is why there are coaches for big teams, like Allegri, and those who are not.”
Juventus will play a pre-season friendly against
Barcelona
next week. The Bianconeri will start their new Serie A campaign with a match against Udinese on August 22.
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