Giorgio Chiellini has reflected on the end of his career and revealed when he thought it was time to leave Juventus and consider retirement.

The former Italy defender spent almost two decades at Juventus and was on course to compete at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

However, after Italy failed to qualify, he opted to leave Juventus and finished his career in the MLS.

In his final season at Juve, he still looked in shape and surprised fans with his continuous competitive edge despite his age.

However, he has now revealed that he was already struggling at the end of his time at the Allianz Stadium, particularly with his recovery times.

He said, as quoted by Tuttojuve:

“In the last year at Juve I could still play, but I noticed how difficult it was for me to recover. I didn’t want to remain insignificant. The same thing happened to me in Los Angeles. I had two beautiful seasons, we reached two MLS finals, one win and one loss, and a Champions League final… With my family the idea was to return to Italy after the summer and I wanted to start having fun and studying.”

Juve FC Says

Chiellini had a very long career, and he deserves a lot of credit for taking good care of himself and ensuring that he reached the peak of his career.