Marco Verratti’s former agent Donato Di Campli says the player ‘lacked balls’ for not running down his contract, and revealed the midfielder was close to joining Juventus. The 30-year-old Azzurri international is on the verge of completing a move to Saudi club Al-Hilal, a rumour that Di Campli confirmed when speaking with TVPLAY_CMIT, despite being unimpressed with his former clients actions:
“Everyone asks me if I am still a prosecutor, if I still want to do this job. I came from nowhere, I ate real dust. Then when you find yourself working with people who send you away with just a whiff, I’ll tell you I prefer to do my work with young people.
“When seven years ago I did an interview with Corriere dello Sport saying that Marco was imprisoned (at PSG), I triggered a furious reaction in the emir. I do not regret anything I said. My ideas cannot be bought even for 100 billion euros. And from the moment Marco chose to take that path, he finished his career. He was like a son, he is like a son. To me it’s like he was kidnapped, mind you, based on economic blackmail and not anything else.
“He will be a very rich man, but he will never be a champion. In life he will be one of many rich men, but one of the few champions that exist in the world of football.
“Marco lacked balls in having to hold out for eight months, because he was on a deadline with PSG, he could have gone to Barcelona and made another career. He was afraid to face those people in Paris and bowed out. He was locked up in a room by former Paris Saint Germain director Antero Henrique and Al-Khelaifi and told, “Leave your agent and we will renew everything you want.” A guy who was 22-23 years old at the time, he was in trouble. And now we are in the same situation with Mbappé.
“Let’s also not forget the Rabiot situation, with his mother who didn’t care if the boy stayed on the bench. I am admiring Kylian Mbappé so much, in spite of the government, Macron…I think he is pursuing his dream. That of becoming a champion. At that amount everyone takes the money, but you have to know how to choose the path you want to take. Marco and I had chosen to go to Barcelona. We probably would have seen him in Serie A as well. Now he goes and gets a lot of money, but he goes to the middle of the desert with camels. Will he go to Arabia? Yes, from my information he will go there, we are at the final details.”
£Marco has always been a Juventus fan and we had an agreement with Juventus before signing for PSG. Pescara wanted to monetize as much as possible on the transfer and we had to reconcile this requirement. With Juve the contract had already been signed.”
