I snubbed Sir Alex Ferguson and Man United transfer - I wanted to send a message

Alessandro Del Piero recently revealed he turned down a move to Manchester United to stand by Juventus during one of the club's darkest periods.

Del Piero, now 49, joined Juventus in 1993 after starting his career at Padova. He spent an impressive 19 years with the Turin giants, winning six Serie A titles, four Supercoppa Italianas, and the Champions League. He scored a record 290 goals in 705 appearances for the club before leaving for Sydney FC in 2012.

However, his time at Juventus was not without its challenges. Del Piero was part of the squad that was relegated to Serie B for the 2006/07 season due to the club's involvement in the notorious Calciopoli scandal. The scandal saw Juventus and several other clubs accused of selecting favourable referees for certain matches to gain an advantage reports the Mirror.

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In addition to being relegated, Juventus also started the season with a nine-point deduction as further punishment. While many players, including Patrick Viera, Lilian Thuram, and Fabio Cannavaro, chose to leave the club, Del Piero decided to stay.

Speaking recently on the Shoot For Love YouTube channel, the star striker said he wanted to face the challenge head-on, despite interest from Manchester United. He shared: "Me and some of my teammates - [Gianluigi] Buffon, [Pavel] Nedved, [Mauro] Camoranesi - we stayed, and we said 'we're accepting of the challenge'. At the time it was a big one."

Addressing rumours of an approach from Sir Alex Ferguson and United, Del Piero said: "There was a time of course. Even if I spent 19