One year ago, on August 3, 2022, Villiam Vecchi left us who won everything with Milan, who went down in history as “the hero of Thessaloniki”, because his huge saves in the Greek city allowed the Rossoneri to win the Cup Winners’ Cup 1-0 (with a goal from Chiarugi) in 1973 against Leeds . After his career, Vecchi also became great as a trainer of goalkeepers in Reggiana where he met the young coach Carlo Ancelotti, who immediately understood his professional and human qualities and asked him to follow him to Juventus, Milan and Real Madrid, thus continuing to win behind the scenes, happy to help Gianluigi Buffon grow among others. And precisely because Vecchi had established with him, from his first day in Turin, a relationship not only of mutual esteem but of sincere friendshipin the farewell hours of the greatest Italian goalkeeper, we can add a sensational episodeknown by few, which concerns him and could have changed his career.
As Vecchi revealed to us, in an interview in the “Gazzetta” for his 70th birthday, Buffon was very close to Milan in the summer of 2006the one in which he became world champion with the national team while Juventus was relegated to Serie B for “Calciopoli”.
At the time, Vecchi was Ancelotti’s “right hand” as AC Milan’s goalkeeper coach, in which the owner was the Brazilian Dida who, however, after the famous firecracker in a Champions League derby, often suffered from physical problems. For this reason, knowing his excellent relations with Buffon, the Rossoneri managing director, Adriano Galliani, instructed Vecchi to ask the Juventus goalkeeper if he was available to move to Milanamong other things, avoiding going down to B. The obviously top secret negotiation, which Galliani had defined as “safe hands operation”, seemed to be successful. Unlike Ibrahimovic, in fact, Buffon would have refused to move to Inter after the rivalry that exploded from “Calciopoli”, but was willing to move to Milan. There was even talk of a four-year contract worth six million euros per season for the goalkeeper, with the promise of paying thirty million euros to Juventus. It was all done but the president Silvio Berlusconi, who has always preferred forwards to defenders, told Galliani verbatim: “You can’t spend thirty million on a goalkeeper”. And so, with great embarrassment and equal displeasure, Vecchi was forced to act as ambassador to his friend Buffon of an unexpected and reverse move.
No one can know how much Buffon would have won with Milan. We know, however, that a year later while he returned to Serie A with Juventus, the Champions always pursued in vain with the black and white shirt was conquered for the second time by Dida, the last Rossoneri goalkeeper to champion Europe, after the success in Athens against Liverpool. AND more generally, we know that Buffon continued to break other records, confirming himself as a champion of style on the pitch and of humanity off the field. Because, beyond his parades, we will never forget his tears on that torrid morning a year ago, when he braved the heat and traffic on the roads of the province of Reggio Emilia to bid his last farewell, in the Church of Fellegara, to his unforgettable friend William Vecchi.
2023-08-03 09:30:00
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