Azzurri star moved to Juventus instead.
Italy playmaker Andrea Pirlo has revealed that he came within a whisker of joining Chelsea in 2009, only for AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi to prevent the deal from going through at the very last minute, according to reports in the Metro.
Read more Chelsea news here!
At the time, Pirlo was playing for the Rossoneri, however, the west London club were keen to land the player with new Chelsea head coach Carlo Ancelotti having just left Milan to take charge at Stamford Bridge.
“It was August 2009 and I’d reached agreement with Chelsea, the club where Ancelotti had just come in as manager,” Pirlo revealed in his autobiography.
“Carlo Ancelotti was my motivation for agreeing to head to London. But, in the meantime, Berlusconi had pulled out a second piece of paper.
“Listen, Andrea, you just can’t do this. You’re the symbol of Milan, a standard bearer for this team, and we’ve already sold Kaka. You can’t jump ship as well. It’d be a terrible blow, to our image as much as anything. We can’t have everyone leaving.
“Ancelotti and I spoke a fair bit on the phone. He wanted to bring me to London at all costs, and cost was indeed the last hurdle still to be overcome. Insurmountable, as it transpired.
“Milan wanted too much cash, and they were also pushing for Branislav Ivanovic to be included in the deal. Chelsea hadn’t the slightest intention of letting the defender go.”
In the end, however, the playmaker ended up leaving Milan in the summer of 2011 to join arch-rivals Juventus on a free transfer in a move that ended up revitalising the player’s career.
In fact, during Pirlo’s time with the Old Lady of Italian Football, the deep-lying holding midfielder has won back-to-back Scudettos and Italian Cups in 2012 and 2013.
SEE ALSO: The Fastest Players on Fifa 14