Deschamps admits leaving Juve was a mistake

Former France captain Didier Deschamps admitted on Tuesday that he made a mistake when quitting as Juventus coach a little over a year ago.

Deschamps, who played for the club as a player, was hired in 2006 following Fabio Capello’s departure after the Turin giants had been demoted to Serie B for their part in the infamous ‘Calciopoli’ match-fixing scandal.

The Frenchman guided Juve back up to the top flight at the first attempt, despite losing several key players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fabio Cannavaro and Patrick Vieira and starting the season with an eight-point deficit.

But he left the post after one season and Juve replaced him with Claudio Ranieri, now under fire after a poor start to this season.

“I resigned because the situation in that moment was very difficult for me,” Deschamps told Sky Sport ahead of Juve’s Champions League clash against Real Madrid.

“I admit that it was a mistake to leave Juve. I know why I left but the football world finds it hard to understand why someone like me, who went down into Serie B, came back up into Serie A, left a prestigious team like Juve.

“If I had my time again, I certainly wouldn’t make the same choice. At the time, though, it seemed like the best decision. I had some differences with the club in terms of the transfer market.

“It seemed difficult to me to continue without a little bit of calm and tranquility.”

Deschamps explained that he wanted to bring in three top class players instead of six or seven lesser players.

The Frenchman, who also coached Monaco and played for Nantes, Marseille, Chelsea and Valencia during an illustrious career, has been out of work ever since.

He believes Juve’s current problems are down to injuries, particularly that of Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

When asked what was the problem with Juve, he said: “Most of all the absence of Buffon. Without him Juve lose a lot.

“That’s not to say that (Alex) Manninger is not a quality goalkeeper but Gigi reassures everyone and with him Juve have another level of defence.”