Max Allegri has revealed he turned down an approach from Real Madrid President Florentino Perez in favour of remaining at Juventus.
The Bianconeri boss spoke to Sky Sports Italia and revealed he was approach by Los Merengues earlier this month but rejected their offer.
“Let’s say I said yes to Juventus,” Allegri responded when asked about the Real offer.
“I spoke to the President Florentino Perez once, and I said that out of respect for the President [Andrea Agnelli], to whom I’d given my word, and Juventus I’d be staying at Juventus.
“It was a decision I’d already taken, and even if other things can happen in life I’d say that I made the decision to stay at Juventus and respected what I’d said, without considering other options.
“I have to thank the Real Madrid President though, for giving me the chance to go there.
“Chelsea? Let’s just say that the decision to stay at Juventus had already been taken, while thanking the ones who sought me out.
“I’ve always said that the President will be the first to know if I want to leave, and the President will have to tell me if he wants to make a change.
“The Juventus project is renewed every year, and every year is competitive. Then Juventus is one of the strongest teams in the world.
“In any case, Juventus have been among the best in Europe for the past four years and we think we can continue to better what we started four years ago.
“I’m very happy to do that, together with the President, together with [general manager Beppe] Marotta, [sporting director Fabio] Paratici and [Vice-President Pavel] Nedved and with all those who work at Juventus.
“Juventus is still an ambitious club, and the President even more so.
“Champions League? In those past 11 years Cristiano Ronaldo has been top scorer six times, Messi five times, and the Ballon d’Or has been shared between them.
“Getting to finals and and interrupting these stats is difficult. Juventus have tried, in the past four years we’re the only team to have eliminated Real Madrid, the other three times they played the final and it was impossible.
“One time we got Real in the final and lost, the other we got Barcelona and we lost. It was difficult to win, and you also need a bit of luck to win finals. Maybe next year will be the good time.
“Scudetto? The lads did well to react and get to the end in the best way after that match we lost at home to Napoli, particularly on a psychological level to keep the pressure off and play an important game against Inter in Milan right away.
“It’s not Dybala’s year. I think Dybala has done a lot for Juventus, he’s grown a lot and then this year he had a transitional moment in the middle of the season because he struggled with the comparisons to Messi.
“He’s already at a great level but he can become even better than he is, doing what only he can do and not comparing himself with the best player in the world right now.”
