Massimiliano Allegri confirms he had reached an agreement to become Real Madrid coach before Juventus re-called him last summer.
The Tuscan tactician was sacked by the Bianconeri in 2019 despite winning 11 trophies in five seasons. Spells with Maurizio Sarri and Andrea Pirlo were not as successful as the club had thought, so Andrea Agnelli re-called Allegri at the helm.
“It was the right time. I could have returned earlier, but I didn’t do it because of personal reasons,” Allegri told GQ, as quoted by Calciomercato.com.
My mother died in 2018, so I didn’t want to go too far away. I remained close to my son Giorgio and my father, who was severely affected by the death of my mum. He still lives in Livorno.
“I decided to return to Juventus because I have a strong bond with the club and the owners, but also to stay closer to my son, who lives in Turin with his mother. I like to be close to my loved ones.”
Real Madrid were one of the options for the coach’s future and Allegri confirmed that he snubbed a move to the Bernabeu twice.
“I had already signed with them last summer, but I called the president to tell him that I would not go because I had chosen Juventus. He thanked me. When they called me in May, I had no doubts.
“I have no regrets, it would have been a great professionally: Milan, Juventus, Real Madrid…but you can’t have everything in life. I am proud to have coached Milan for four years and to be at Juventus now. I rejected Real Madrid twice. The first time I was in talks to extend with Juventus. I told Florentino that I had already given my word to Agnelli.”
Allegri signed a four-year deal with Juventus last summer and is the highest-paid coach in Serie A with a reported €9m-a-year salary.
The Bianconeri had a tough start to the season after Cristiano Ronaldo’s exit in August, but are the best team in Serie A since the start of the season and are unbeaten in the last 16 league matches. They’ll face their rivals Inter when Serie A resumes on Sunday.
Allegri: 'Avevo già firmato con il #RealMadrid , ma quando ha chiamato la #Juve non ho avuto dubbi' https://t.co/5QBOfK7YYi pic.twitter.com/gIZEjG9NfN
— calciomercato.com (@cmdotcom) March 31, 2022
Allegri perfectly fits into the Juventus mentality: breaking your word and not keeping agreements.
I wish had sign that damn agreement with Real Madrid
You know it’s never too late
Wanna give them a call this summer ?
We extremely appreciate it , really.
So he signed with Real Madrid and then CHEATED on them, just so he can return to juBentus?
Perfectly matches the values of Piemonte Calcio.
The guy cheats on women too…type it in google and read to your heart’s content. Seems like a stand-up dude, but baldo likes practicing free kicks with a plethora of ladies…
Just think, if he hadn’t received that call we wouldn’t be seeing the high scoring beauty that Juventus currently produce
He’d likely have been sacked by Madrid already
That sound you hear is the collective sigh of relief from Madrid fans everywhere. Instead of coming back against PSG they would have collapsed 4-0.
I am not a Juve fan, but I find the contempt for him from a lot of Juve fans baffling. He has won more with Juve than any other coach in the modern era. I know Lippi won the champions league, but Allegri should still be respected by the fans. Yes, playing style is dire this year, but he is attempting to repair an already broken team, whose star player left in pre season. Most managers would start by implementing stability and a toughness to beat into a team in that situation, which is what he has done. I don’t think he is a top coach, but a pragmatist who tends to get results.
Hi haters 👋🏼
@Ricky,
Basically Juve fans want a win in Europe which many believe he is not capable of delivering due to his playing style in the league of sitting back with the best players in Serie A and looking for only 1-0 wins. If you paid real money on tickets every year to repeatedly watch those tepid displays you would understand the frustration.
Bring Zizou or Conte back!
The bs Allegri and his agent come up with is incredible.. the Spanish sourced have the story right:
Last summer, Real’s priority was to keep Zidane, so they never gave a word to Allegri.
He got tired of waiting and said yes to Juve.
To try to spin this around like Allegri rejected Real Madrid is beyond hilarious.
And he seems dumb enough to publicly still talk about it (he said three times so far this season).
As a friend once told me, Allegri would have crawled in his pajamas from Livorno to Madrid just so he can become the coach.
It’s true in 2018, before Real went for Lopetegui, Allegri was approached. He rejected Real then because Juve bought Ronaldo and he thought finally he had a chance of winning the CL.
He started the Millan banter era, and Madrid would be out of CL by now.
Gio, I agree he would have been sacked by Madrid already
I have a question for @Milanista82, how do you know all this? Where do you get your information? Is there any truth to it or are you just another juve-hater who whips up a bunch of conspiracies based on some bs you read on the internet?