Alessandro Nesta reveals he wanted to rejoin Lazio, but the club never contacted him.
The former centre-back was born in Rome, and came up through the Biancocelesti youth system, making 261 appearances before moving to Milan.
“I started at Lazio and I did pretty well,” Nesta recalled on Radio Sei.
“I became captain, but then there was the crisis at the club, and I was in crisis too because a lot of clubs wanted me.
Alessandro Nesta reveals he wanted to rejoin Lazio, but the club never contacted him.
The former centre-back was born in Rome, and came up through the Biancocelesti youth system, making 261 appearances before moving to Milan.
“I started at Lazio and I did pretty well,” Nesta recalled on Radio Sei.
“I became captain, but then there was the crisis at the club, and I was in crisis too because a lot of clubs wanted me.
“Every four months they’d call me to sell me, but I said no. Then on the last day [of the transfer window in 2002] I had to leave because the accounts were in the red.
“I could have put my foot down and stayed, but nobody had been paid for a year and seven months. I realised there was a danger of bankruptcy.
“On the last day of the transfer window I had to go to Milan. After that everyone can draw their own conclusions. I never explained the reason for my departure.
“I made some youthful errors in that situation, maybe if I was more of an adult I’d have done things differently. Things went the way they did, they sold everyone.
“I could have talked about the matter on television, but instead I stayed silent, also getting some insults. What I still remember is what I achieved with Lazio and that I became captain.
“A return? In 2007 [Massimo] Oddo was captain of the Biancocelesti. We met in the national team and I asked him, as I was out of contract, if Lazio were interested.
“It all slipped-away, no-one ever came to the negotiating table. I’d never asked for money or anything. That’s how things went and that year I won the Champions League with Milan.
“I’d done a period at Milan, I was fine physically but everyone makes their own choices.
“After that I had the intention of returning before I went to the US [Major League Soccer, in 2012], but I’d have come as a pensioner, I was no longer in condition. So I went to America [Canada, with Montreal Impact].
“I don’t know if Oddo ever told them, maybe they thought I’d ask for a big wage, maybe the message never reached the club.
“Everyone has their own projects and choices. I can’t say that [President Claudio] Lotito refused my return.”
Nesta is currently Coach of Miami FC in the North American Soccer League, and discussed his life in the USA.
“I changed country and came to live here in the United States. I’m working as a Coach, the start wasn’t the best.
“We’re making some changes. Coaching is different, but I’m slowly starting to understand how it works. Of our first five games we lost three, but football is different here.
“In Italy the result counts for so much, less so here. Trialists play for a fee, $180 dollars to be assessed.
“We got everything from 40-year-olds to an overweight Mexican with a moustache!
“We’re in the second division, but if we win it we don’t qualify for MLS, it’s just the second American division.”