Instead the Italy goalkeeper decided to join Juventus.
“I chose Juventus because my agent Silvano Martina and my father advised it,” he said to TuttoMercatoWeb.com. “At the time I had to choose between Roma, Barcelona, and Juve.
“Initially my friendship with [Francesco] Totti and Vito Scala made me prefer Roma, where [Fabio] Capello had just arrived and it seemed they were starting a great cycle of victories.
“I remember that Silvano and my father went to talk with [Roma president Franco] Sensi, but due to economic reasons he preferred to buy [Ivan] Pelizzoli, paying less, but at the time he was a promising young keeper.
“There were also contacts with Barcelona but then [Luciano] Moggi and the Agnelli family stepped in. I really wanted to win a Scudetto, my father said Juve hadn’t won the title for five years and that they were bound to win it within the next two years. In the end I followed his advice and it proved to be a good choice.”
