Former Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt insists he has the ‘utmost respect’ for the Old Lady but admits Max Allegri’s choices made him lose confidence.
The Dutch defender has joined Bayern Munich this summer, following a three-year spell in Turin. From the very beginning of the summer, he had made clear that he wanted to leave Juventus, but some of his claims were seen as disrespectful by the Old Lady’s fans.
Leonardo Bonucci also accused his former teammate of lacking respect toward the Serie A giants.
“In an interview with the NOS in June, I said that – as the club itself thinks –it is not good enough to finish fourth twice in a row at a club like Juventus,” De Ligt told De Telegraaf.
“That was not an attack on Juventus. Not at all, because I will always have the utmost respect for this club. It was just a fact that no one could be satisfied. The bar had to be raised, including me. Maybe it was taken over or came across incorrectly.”
De Ligt had joined Juventus in an €85.5m fee from Ajax in 2019 and left the Bianconeri this summer for circa €80m, including add-ons.
“I will never forget how my former teammates helped me in my development as a footballer and as a person and to ground at the club,” the 23-year-old continued.
“Last season, for the first time in my career, I had two coaches, Louis van Gaal and Massimiliano Allegri, who didn’t put me in the starting lineup and didn’t feel confident.
“Before that, I had always had coaches who were fans of me and then it is easy to perform.”
De Ligt played under three different coaches during his time at Juventus. First with Maurizio Sarri, then Andrea Pirlo and finally Max Allegri.
The Netherlands international racked up 42 appearances in Turin last season, scoring three goals. Overall, he played 117 games with the Old Lady.