Giorgio Chiellini has confirmed that he would have remained at Juventus for another season if Italy has qualified for the World Cup in Qatar. The veteran centre-back is set to join MLS side LAFC in the coming weeks, but he still had a year remaining on his Juve contract and could have stayed in Turin until 2023.
Speaking to Sportweek, Chiellini confirmed that it was Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup that led to his decision to leave Juve:
“Yes, I would have continued because I wanted to try to change my history with the World Cup, which has never been happy. I tried hard, but I couldn’t do it.
In 2010 we went out badly in a more than manageable group, in 2014 we had a great start but we made life difficult for ourselves by losing the seeded place because we then played in really prohibitive conditions, with crazy travel, schedules and heat.
In 2018 we didn’t even qualify and I had this big regret. You think that if we had qualified for Russia I would have left the national team after that World Cup. And I probably would have made a mistake, because then I had my best years.
