Locatelli: "I said no to Arsenal for Juventus. AC Milan did not help me"

Juventus captain Manuel Locatelli has opened up to Rivista Undici about rejecting Arsenal out of love for Juventus, his childhood idols and his story with AC Milan, which ended abruptly.

On the Arsenal possibility: "Arsenal are an incredible team, with a great history, in a hugely important league. But I only wanted Juve, and I had already wanted them a year earlier when I had gone very close to joining them. I didn’t want to listen to any other offer, my agents were going mad: they were putting other teams to me, and I was saying 'only Juve'".

On his idols: "Both my brother and I had Del Piero’s shirt. I was also obsessed with Nedved, when I was very little I used to ask my mum whether I had legs like his, slightly bowed".

On AC Milan: "I will always thank AC Milan: I came through the whole system there, it was my home, and I will always thank Montella for showing faith in me. What weighed on me was that I didn’t have the tools to handle everything. I was still too young and immature. There were enormous expectations on me and inside me they seemed even bigger, especially after that goal against Juve. This is something that held me back and I wasn’t even capable of questioning myself. So many times I blamed others and looked for excuses. I certainly made a lot of mistakes in that period, but I also believe I was not helped