Diego says he has “no regrets” about joining Juventus, but should have stayed “at least another year”.
The Brazilian joined the Bianconeri from Werder Bremen in 2009 for a fee of €25m, and was expected to be a star for years to come.
However, after a promising start he failed to produce consistently and the midfielder was sold when the new directorship team led by Giuseppe Marotta came in.
“I don’t regret anything,” Diego insisted, speaking to Extra Time.
Diego says he has “no regrets” about joining Juventus, but should have stayed “at least another year”.
The Brazilian joined the Bianconeri from Werder Bremen in 2009 for a fee of €25m, and was expected to be a star for years to come.
However, after a promising start he failed to produce consistently and the midfielder was sold when the new directorship team led by Giuseppe Marotta came in.
“I don’t regret anything,” Diego insisted, speaking to Extra Time.
“It was a dream. I had offers from Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, but I preferred Juve. I signed for four years.
“It’s a club where you have to win though, and that didn’t happen. At that time they were undergoing a revolution, they wanted to change the philosophy and play a more attractive style of football.
“At first it was wonderful, four wins in a row, I got a double at Roma. But then the results didn’t come, perhaps because the team weren’t used to that system.
“In January [Alberto] Zaccheroni replaced [Ciro] Ferrara, then the following season they took [Luigi] Del Neri who brought the 4-4-2.
“Even when he was at Porto in 2004, I knew he wasn’t conducive to me, he didn’t play with a mezzala. Everything changed.
“A new direction came with Marotta. He and Del Neri told me that they wanted to keep me, but my agent acted like a lawyer with Juve who authorised me to talk to other clubs. I chose Wolfsburg.
“Today, with maturity, I wouldn’t have gone right away. I’d have stayed at least another year, but I didn’t have any patience…”
Was Diego forced out because he couldn’t play with Alessandro Del Piero?
“No! We spoke at length recently in Sao Paolo. Del Neri said we couldn’t play together, but Del Piero is an extraordinary person and we had a great relationship both on and off the pitch.”