Parma-Juve, Pirlo and the challenge of an almost ex

Buffon. Thuram and Cannavaro. Veron, Stanic, Fiore, Dino Baggio, Boghossian. Chiesa, Crespo, Asprilla and Balbo. All of them, plus Andrea Pirlo. Parma 1998-99 was a sensational team and it ran the risk of being even more so, with that boy who then played for Brescia. Offensive midfielder, they all thought. Andrea Pirlo will be in Parma tonight to train his Juve but in that stadium he took a risk twice to enter with the yellow and blue jersey. Today hardly anyone remembers it, but the stories of the transfer market are like this: they overlap until they are forgotten. But still …

MORATTI AND 1998

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However, Fabrizio Larini, Parma sporting director at the time, has not lost his memory: “In 1998 we had an agreement with Brescia for Pirlo – he says -. We went to Corioni’s offices, everything was done, then Moratti arrived and you know… you can’t say no to Inter ”. After 22 years there is talk of an agreement for about ten billion or 6.5 in half, certainly the Gazzetta wrote about a meeting between Parma and Brescia for Pirlo, Bonazzoli and Diana, two that in fact at different times turned yellow and blue . Pirlo no, straight to Inter as he says in his book: “At the end of the 1997-98 season I was on retirement with the U21 team and my agent called me: ‘Andrea, you have to move. We did everything with Parma, you are their player. When you come back you just have to sign the contract. ‘ I let myself go, carried away by the current of happiness, I condensed all my proverbial enthusiasm in this answer: ‘Ok’. The next morning things changed ”. Inter had called. Larini again: “When we found that agreement for Andrea, Ancelotti was still in Parma, who in 1998 would be replaced by Malesani. Everyone liked Pirlo, we would have taken him to play an offensive midfielder. Veron would then arrive in his role ”. As if to say: those two together wouldn’t have played anyway.

SACCHI AND 2002

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Pirlo was just 19 years old in 1998 and he was not the player of 2002, when with Milan he became a starter at the head of the defense and, in nine months, he won a Champions League. Parma, even at that time, was close to a deal that changes in a decade. Tullio Tinti, a 21-year-old historical agent, says: “In 2002, after the first year in Milan, I spoke with Sacchi, then in Parma. Andrea would have played in front of the defense. Nothing has been done about it and Sacchi has admitted in the past that he made a mistake that time. ” Parma 2002 did not live up to 1998, but still had very strong individualities, especially the attacking pair Mutu-Adriano, near the peak of their career. Eighteen years later, it’s strange to think about that. Pirlo has no regrets: he played with Milan and Juve, won the Champions League and Scudetti. As for Parma, well, in short …