Golden wonder
Football Italia - October 1999
Right from his golden eyes to his dazzling golden feet Alex Del Piero is worth a King's ransom. But Juventus really had to sweat before seeing Del Piero's beautiful signature. General Manager Luciano Moggi openly admits it. "Fortunately, Umberto Agnelli intervened otherwise the deal wouldn't have been possible. It would have been a great defeat for Juventus, but now it's all over."
Alessandro has signed a record contract. Each week the player will earn roughly &96,000 - and that's without taking into account sponsorship rewards. Consequently, Del Piero has become the best-paid player in the world. He is the Michael Jordan of football. This is a unique and unprecedented contract, which perhaps explains the lengthy nine-month negotiation period.
Del Piero has five very important sponsors - Adidas, Pepsi, Luxotica, Walt Disney and Cepu. They earn the striker 8.5 billion liras with another billion from occasional sponsors. The club also co-ordinate image exploitation. In order to deal with the sponsorship contracts of their players Juventus have set up a group including Marcello Lippi's son, Davide that will examine each single case.
Del Piero's contract was up in another year and any club interested in the Italian striker would have had to pay at least &30m for him and his wage bill on top of that. So in a way Juve are getting him cheap. Apart from that, it also finally jettisons the tightwad reputation Juve have endured over the last few years by selling their best players and replacing them cheaply. And it also emphasizes how much importance Juve place on a world class talent like Del Piero.
His image around the world is an invaluable advertising tool. Apart from guaranteeing his future, Del Piero guarantees Juve's with his exclusive and wonderful skills. He is the player the fans worship, the player that excites them most and also the symbol of Juventus. The next five years will see the player reach the height of his footballing maturity. And that maturity has shown in several ways over these last few months. Del Piero has kept quiet, proving he is his own man.
"Money is important and I would be a fool to say it isn't. It can help you to live better but there are also many things money can't buy," he says. Yet for all his confidence, it is still a lot of cash and there must have been a few nerves. "It wasn't a signature like any other i have signed that's for sure. I never thought about the money but about my life. My heart was beating fast when I signed. It is the most important contract of my life. I am bound to Juventus for the next five years, the best years of my career. I was always going to sign so there was no need for anyone to worry. I just wanted what I thought was right for me. I always been a Juventino and will always be a Juventino. I know what that means to the club." It is the confidence that dismisses a question about extra responsibilities. "They will stay the same. A person who takes a hundred is perhaps differently committed to a person who takes a thousand but me, whatever I take, I bring the same commitment. I have always given the most I could regardless of my wage packet."
So it is something that makes him proud, the fact that he is the best-paid footballer in the world? "I don't know if I am the highest paid footballer. I am not used to looking at other people's wage packets. Every contract is a product of the times. Perhaps in two years contracts like mine will be the norm. The laws of the market determine the money. People say that Christian Vieri's transfer made my demands much easier to swallow, but I don't believe so. They are both different situations.
"For Vieri it was a transfer fee. Mine was a renewal of a contract. The desire to play remains totally intact. In fact it is even stronger after being out of the game for so long and being inactive all this time. Now the only thing that really interests me is getting back to playing football. I missed it terribly. After enduring eight months where I could only play cards it is a great joy to be able to run again."
No doubt it was a rough training on his own, but Del Piero says he was overwhelmed by the amount of inspiration he received from fans. "I have had an incredible demonstration of affection. You wouldn't believe how many people have written to me. I have had love letters, emotional letters, letters of goodwill, every type of letter. Someone even offered me their knee, incredible. My favourite was from my collegue and friend George Weah. It was a very moving and deep message."
He's already shown sizzling form, helping Juve qualify for the UEFA Cup via the Intertoto route. His brilliant goal also sunk champions Milan in the annual Berlusconi Trophy match. But did he ever fear he might not come back? "No, I didn't. Doctors reassured me there were no complications. All the indications from the specialists were that I would return as fit as before." So what did he miss most? "I missed the match days naturally, the whole thing of training and getting up on the morning of the game. I missed the smell of the grass and funnily enough the tackles and the kicks."
How will Juve fair this season? "Our aim is to do well in the UEFA Cup and qualify for the Champions' League. With the current squad I feel we should have no problems. The new players have experience and character. Perhaps we have not bought the real big stars the fans dream about, but in the past Juve have bought not-so-well known players like Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps and look how they turned out. The main contenders for Lo Scudetto are Milan, Lazio, Roma, Parma, Inter and Fiorentina.
"Even if lots of people think we are not part of the front runners, amongst the players there is a great conviction that we will be towards the top of the League. Last season was just too much to explain and it's logical that we should all have this determination to take Juve back to the top," he says.
It is good to see the world class player back to his old self. If he can recapture the form everyone knows he is capable of - and early signs are really encouraging - then there should be a few more smiles around the club than last year.
