Chelsea must be most likely to bring Pirlo to Premier League
Published:Andrea Pirlo has undoubtedly played a big role in Juventus’ return to top-club status in Serie A in recent seasons, but with his contract up in the summer, there is a possibility that he will depart the Old Lady for one final career challenge.
A midfield trio of Claudio Marchisio, Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba looks the future for Juventus and with Pirlo wanting to feel an “integral part of the side” for whoever he plays for, his best career move may not be to stay in Turin.
He is known to get on well with Carlo Ancelotti and so links with Real Madrid will surely only heighten in the coming months, but he may want to give the Premier League a shot before ending his career.
Pirlo has indicated that he wants to carry on with a high-profile team and of the Premier League’s big guns, it may be Chelsea where the 34-year-old fits in most seamlessly.
The signing of Samuel Eto’o shows that Jose Mourinho is happy to sign players with their peak years behind them if they are still deemed to have something to offer.
Pirlo could rotate well with Frank Lampard in the Chelsea midfield, with the energy of Ramires around them to do the legwork, while Oscar is much more aware of his defensive duties than the majority of other number 10-type playmakers.
The obvious difficulty for Pirlo would be the pace that football in the Premier League is played at, given that he has spent his whole career in Italy, where the build-up play is deemed to be much slower.
Of the other Premier League clubs, a move to Manchester United would appear out of the question because they already have Michael Carrick playing passes from a deep position, Arsenal don’t sign players of Pirlo’s age and Spurs already have too many midfielders.
Man City could be interested, but that would mean dropping Yaya Toure or summer £30m recruit Fernandinho, which is unlikely.
Juventus remain odds-on to win Serie A for the third consecutive year, despite Napoli being the only side to have made a 100 per cent-winning start through the opening three fixtures.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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