Del Piero moved for lifestyle, Ravanelli says

Former Juventus striker Fabrizio Ravanelli said Alessandro Del Piero’s move to Sydney FC was about lifestyle as well as football.

“I think it was a footballing decision, but also a lifestyle choice,” Ravanelli said, who works as a youth coach at Juve.

“He wanted to experience a new way of life and Australia will offer him that.”

Ravanelli played alongside Del Piero during his four-year stint with the club in the 1990s, before departing to ply his trade at numerous clubs across England, Scotland and France.

“Language is always the biggest problem,” he said.

“But Alex speaks good English so I don’t see any problems for him.”

The former Italy international then revealed Del Piero had offers from other Italian sides, but after almost 20 years with the Old Lady he could not have moved domestically.

“He couldn’t stay in Italy, it was practically impossible. He had to go out of respect for the Juventus fans,” he said.