Alessandro Del Piero rejected Liverpool due to the Heysel tragedy, says former agent
Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero rejected a move to Liverpool out of respect for the Heysel tragedy, according to his former agent.
The Italian has signed a two-year contract at Sydney FC and confirmed he also snubbed a potential move to Anfield, where Brendan Rodgers is looking for free-agent strikers.
And Del Piero's ex-representative, Claudio Pasqualin, thinks the forward said no to Liverpool as a consequence of the events at the 1985 European Cup final.
Ahead of the game at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, a disruption between Liverpool and Juventusfans caused a wall to collapse and led to the death of 39 Juventus supporters.
"Australians could find nobody better than Del Piero to let them make that step up in quality"
Claudio Pasqualin
Quotes of the week
"I think as a real Juventino, out of respect and remembrance for the massacre at Heysel, he said no to Liverpool," Pasqualin told TMW.
Quality
Pasqualin believes Del Piero's move to Australia is an excellent decision and thinks the 37-year-old will one day return to Italy and could become chief of the country's football federation.
"I think Sydney is a fantastic opportunity for him.
"Alessandro will return in his way to being a protagonist after the crucial contribution he gave to Juventus over all these years.
"He can promote Australian football throughout the world and I'm certain he'll be very happy there.
"In fact, Australians could find nobody better than Del Piero to let them make that step up in quality.
"When he returns to Italy, he'll be able to do whatever he wants. I'd see him making a good director but he could also be a great president of the FIGC (Italian Football Federation) one day or a coach at the Juventus Academy."
