Paris Saint-Germain summer signing Marco Verratti talked to La Gazzetta Dello Sport about his future at the Parisian club, and his failed move to Juventus this summer. The 19-year-old Italian midfielder explained what happened during negotiations, and why he chose the move to PSG. He also revealed his football idol.
Juventus made a bid for the youngster, but Pescara ultimately sold him to PSG.
“In June, the move was almost complete,” he told La Gazzetta Dello Sport. “But then Juventus didn’t want to pay the high price they [Pescara] were asking because I was coming from the Serie B.”
“PSG came in with a good offer, and I was interested in their new project.”
“At Juventus they were talking about the future, but at PSG it was about the present. I could have stayed at Pescara in Serie A, which for a 19-year-old is something special. But within a year, maybe the same offers wouldn’t be coming my way. In football, you must always seize the moment. PSG is destined to become one of the top five squads in the world, and they are playing in the Champions League. You cannot deny it.”
Verratti also spoke of the fact that his playing time at the Bianconeri would have been limited because of Andrea Pirlo.
“It is inevitable. There is Pirlo. But I felt ready to play. I think that if a squad takes you, it is because they believe that you are ready to play immediately. In Italy, it was Juventus or Pescara, but at PSG I was made to feel that I was the center of a project.”
Verratti is inevitably going to be compared to Pirlo because of his playing postition, but he was asked which player he idolized in the world of football.
“It has always been Alessandro Del Piero, who I will be following at Sydney. On the internet, I always watch the replay of the Champions League final against Ajax because I was too young to remember it. It was also the season when the famous ‘gol alla Del Piero’ was born.”
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