Long interview given to the microphones of ‘Juventibus’ by Gianluigi Buffon. During the question and answer, the former head of the national delegation recalled the reasons that pushed him to leave Juventus to join Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2018: “In the previous summer we decided that after playing in the World Cup 2018 I would have retired. Then it happens that we don’t qualify for the World Cup and the idea of ending with this disappointment bothered me, also because I felt very good physically Italian Cup, I met with Andrea Agnelli and he asked me if I would like to do another year behind Szczesny, playing the Champions League. But I had known Juventus for twenty years, I knew them, they had signed Szczesny because they knew that I wasn’t. I would have stayed and taking a step back would have created problems for him. I thanked him, but I refused.
And again: “The end of April arrives, I meet my agent and he tells me that it would be a shame to stop. I reiterated my choice, but added: ‘But if PSG, Barcelona or Real Madrid call you, call me back.’ Martina calls me back after 20 days and says: ‘Gigi, you won’t believe it but PSG called me’. I felt proud, they also offered me a lot of money and in that case it makes you feel alive, strong, it makes you feel cool. At that point I call Agnelli, Paratici and Marotta and explain it to them. They understood me: maybe they didn’t like it, they hoped I’d stayed, but I understood that if I stayed they would get stuck badly”
And why do you come back a year later?
“Because while I was going to Porto Paratici called me and said: ‘What are you doing, come here…’ I told him: ‘Fabio, go back to Juve and be the second goalkeeper…’ I don’t know, at first It doesn’t convince me, but in the end I’ll come back because I think that that too is a demonstration of affection for the cause. For me that was another episode in which without kissing the coat of arms on the shirt it shows that he cares about certain things. But then these things go tell, otherwise there’s always someone who gets involved half and wants to see something rotten in it.”