Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero says his ‘heart is still with the club’ as rumours continue to circulate on his potential return to the Bianconeri. The Old Lady are still reeling from the aftereffects of a torrid season which has seen them penalised 15-points, as well as seeing their long-standing president Andrea Agnelli stand down from the role at the beginning of the year. Appearing on CBS Sport as a pundit, Del Piero talked about what it means to him to see the club suffering and why he can’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on a return, while fellow pundit Thierry Henry explained why he thinks the Juve legend would be the perfect man to return as club president:
Does it hurt you to watch the chaos around the club?
“Yes, of course, of course, I mean I was a Juve fan before playing. I spent 19 years there, I went through a big crisis in 2006. to rebuild the team it took a long time before we came back and won a trophy again. You miss the Champions League, you miss opportunities, you miss a lot of things, but I never regret what I did. Seeing the team now and I feel for the players, I know how they can feel, in this situation where you don’t know what will happen, its weird, its tough. That’s why I’m saying they’re doing great from what I can see.”
“A President named Del Piero? There are a lot of rumours of course, from the time I came back to the stadium, it’s great how the fans recognised my time at the club. I’m not here to say yes or no. Of course, as I said before, my heart is still there. When you spend 19 years there….it was most of my life…so I’m looking at what happened at Juve with a different point of view.”
“Capable of doing the role? It depends on many things, you cannot think of the role alone, you need to build a team together, even with the club. In this era, there are a lot of things to do at a club, so that’s the vision anyone would have to have, including me.”
Fellow pundit Henry offered his thoughts on Del Piero returning to Turin, explaining why he thinks the former captain would be perfect:
“Joking aside, obviously, Ale cannot say it, when I think about Juve, I think not only about him, there were a lot of players who made that club successful, one of which has already left us (Gianluca Vialla, ed.), For me, when I see Del Piero not being there, it’s weird. I wore the shirt for only 6 months, but I know what Del Piero does represent there. He knows the game, he knows the area, he knows what the team needs. How he’s going to come back? I don’t know. It reminds me a bit of Paolo Maldini and the way he left Milan. He was seeing it from afar, and people were asking ‘Shall he come back? and he came back, and look at Milan now. I think this man here (Del Piero) should be back at Juve, big time.”
Would @delpieroale return to Juventus as vice-president?
Thierry Henry thinks he'd be perfect for the role. ⚫️ ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/3JU44EvguO
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 12, 2023
