Ex-Juventus and Italy legend makes massive Sunderland transfer claim to Roy Keane

Italy and Juventus legend Giorgio Chiellini has reiterated he considered moving to Sunderland to play under Roy Keane.

The Black Cats were linked with the central defender after Keane had masterminded Sunderland’s promotion to the Premier League as champions of the second tier. The former Manchester United man would keep the Wearsiders in the top flight before leaving midway through the following campaign.

“Imagine, from Juventus, I was thinking about coming to Sunderland. It was really just for him,” Chiellini said about Keane, with the pair appearing on an episode of The Overlap.

Chiellini went on to make 561 appearances in all competitions for the Old Lady of Italian football and 716 in total across his other clubs, winning Serie A a whopping nine times alongside the European Championships at the expense of England with Italy.

Former Sunderland boss Keane also revealed that he had come close to signing for Juventus while his contract at Manchester United was running down before opting to stay at Old Trafford under legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

“I nearly came to Juventus, I agreed a deal to come in 2000 on a Bosman. The contract was up, so I’d agreed a deal with Juventus and Bayern and a few others, but Gary (Neville) didn’t want me to leave United,” he joked.

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