Pirlo: I could have moved to Barcelona
This was back when the midfielder was at Milan, but wasn’t high on Max Allegri’s wishlist. He was slated to move to the Camp Nou in exchange for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The Swede eventually moved to Milan, and went on to win the 2011 Serie A title, but Pirlo joined Juventus, ending up winning four Scudetti with the Bianconeri.
“The Ibrahimovic deal was being negotiated, and I was meant to be the player who went in the other direction. In the end Ibra came to Milan, and that’s it,” Pirlo told Sky Italia.
“It would surely have been a nice experience, but I was happy in Milan. I don’t know whether I would have accepted, but it was [Adriano] Galliani who convinced me to remain.
Pirlo also mentioned that he got on very well with his team-mates. “We were even worse off the pitch. Rino [Gattuso] owned a fishmonger’s, and he supplied the kitchens constantly. When we knew there was fish we ordered ham!”.