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Juventus great Chiellini: I was stupid enough to reject Arsenal at 16

  /  autty

Chiellini is now back at Juve in a new director's role.

And he recalled on the Overlap: "At 16 I was stupid enough to refuse an offer from Arsenal. I was in the youth team of Livorno who were in Serie C. Arsenal had presented an excellent offer: they were sure I would accept.

"However, I didn't want to leave my hometown team without them making money from the transfer. So I told my agent: 'I'll sign a new contract and if you find an agreement with Arsenal I'll go. But not like this'."

Chiellini then explained why he didn't move to the Gunners: "In the end the club asked for too much money and nothing came of it. If I had a son in that situation I would immediately tell him to accept and go without thinking. I was in Serie C, not at Juve or Milan. In the end everything went well, but it was a bad decision at the time."