Former Juventus director Luciano Moggi has revealed some of the most astonishing off the field stories in his book among which he admits to have suggested Zlatan Ibrahimovic to start a war with Rafael van der Vaart.
Moggi resigned from his post with the La Vecchia Signora at the end of the 2005/06 season being at the centre of the Calciopoli scandal which resulted in the Bianconeri being stripped of the two Scudetti won in 2005 and 2006 apart from being demoted to the Serie B with Moggi himself given a life ban from football.
The 76 year old Italian came forward and released some of the most controversial stories during his time as a Juventus director in his book “Il Pallone Lo Porto Io.”
“I have often heard that Juve was like a prison,” wrote Moggi in his book.
“It is false but it is true that I gave advice to the players. I told players ‘If you go chasing women, do it in the right places, not where everyone can see you. ‘ At Juve we only intervened when the player being gossiped about was not performing.”
Moggi wrote of his likeness towards Ibrahimovic and that he was a very dedicated player.
“Ibrahimovic and I liked each other right away, ever since our first meeting that lasted an hour in Montecarlo during the Formula One race.
“Mino Raiola is always dressed in an inappropriate manner, but he does not care. That is one of the reasons I like him. If I asked him to, Ibrahimovic would take a bike ride around all of Italy.
“I liked Ibra right away: direct, honest and not afraid to confront powerful people. He told me he only cared about football and family. I cannot remember Ibra missing even one practice. Even a fever could not stop him. He was an exemplary professional.”
“Ajax did not want to let Ibra leave, so I admit I was not politically correct, but I suggested Ibrahimovic start a war with van der Vaart. If a player asked me to leave I always did so even if it made team weaker. I did so with Christian Vieri in 1997.
“Had I remained at Juve, Ibrahimovic would still be a bianconero. ”
The man who also spent some of his time as a director of football with clubs such as Roma, Lazio and Napoli also wrote of how he signed Pavel Nedved.
“Nedved always scored against us. ‘We’ll buy him so we can resolve this problem’ I told Roberto Bettega and Antonio Giraudo in 2001.
“I knew the negotiation with Real Madrid for Zinedine Zidane would end well, but we risked not getting the replacement for Zizou. I needed a stroke of genius to get Nedved to agree to join Juve, so I played along . ”
“I called Nedved and said: ‘Do me a favour and come to Torino, just look around you don’t have to sign with Juve’ . I told Nedved I would send him a private plane while he was in Prague so nobody would see him. Pavel fell into my trap.”
“After I hung up with Nevded I called journalists and TVs to tell them ‘Nedved is on his way’. When Nedved got off the plane there were numerous reporters waiting for him.”
“He told me ‘How could they know of my arrival?’ Nedved went through a few days of protest in Rome and on July 4th he gave up ‘Okay! I will sign with Juve.'”
Moggi also wrote about some of the incidents in the life of Paolo Montero.
“I smile thinking about Montero. He was a great player who loved the night life. ”
“But he was a real man who always took responsibility. When Montero went out chasing women and drinking beer, he was like a tornado on pitch the following day: he never gave up.
“Montero always went out with Mark Iuliano at night. He was a warrior who will always be in the hearts of the Juve fans. After Montero got married and stopped going out, his performance dipped considerably.”
“I told him: ‘Stay out all night or I will sell you’. Luckily after that Montero went back to giving great performances.”
Moggi has also written about a tough period in the footballing career of David Trezeguet and how he resolved it.
“I remember Trezeguet had a difficult period.”
“He was not playing up to his potential. I found out Trezeguet would often go to club Hollywood, where footballers were often seen.”
“Solving the problem was easy. One night I went to club Hollywood and Trezeguet showed up smiling. His expression changed when he saw me. ”
“I asked Trezeguet, what are we going to do- ‘leave together or just take my car?’ After that Trezeguet started scoring again. ”
