Claudio Marchisio’s departure from Juventus has left a slightly bitter taste in the back of the mouth
You’ve all heard of one-club players before.
Ryan Giggs, Francesco Totti, Steven Gerrard, Carles Puyol… and Claudio Marchisio.
The Italian midfielder joined Juventus as a seven-year-old in 1993 and now, 25 years later, the player and the club agreed to terminate his contract.
Marchisio’s tweet reads, “I can’t stop looking at this photograph of these stripes on which I wrote my life as a man and a footballer.
“I love this shirt to the point that, despite everything, I am convinced that the good of the team comes first. All the time.”
Pass the tissues.
Marchisio’s contract ran until 2020 but the club and the 32-year-old decided it would be best to cancel it now and for him to move on this summer.
It hardly seems a fitting way for one of the all-time modern Juventus greats to end his time with the Old Lady.
Juventus have a strange policy of selling or cutting short legends careers instead of letting them stay on and retire as gods.
We saw it with Alessandro Del Piero moving to the A-League, Gigi Buffon being allowed to leave for PSG and now Marchisio.
He’ll never have to pay for a drink in Turin againGetty - Contributor
In normal circumstances, when a legend leaves a club there is a campaign of tributes and goodbyes, a testimonial match to celebrate past and present team-mates and and a final game which turns into a love-in between the player and the fans.
Think John Terry farcically subbing himself off in the 26th minute during his last game for Chelsea’s or Steven Gerrard’s final Liverpool appearance which concluded with a parade around the pitch and tears galore.
Strangely, Juventus afforded Marchisio nothing that fits his status as a 25-year servant to the club.
“I don’t care what the manager says, today is all about me.”Getty Images - Getty
There was no fanfare, no final game, just an announcement from the club and a tear-jerking letter from Marchisio to the fans.
Marchisio was born in Turin to a Juventus-mad family, he used to be a ball boy at the Stadio delle Alpi and was first put on the club’s books aged seven.
The box-to-box midfielder realised his boyhood dream of playing for the Bianconeri a whopping 389 times, helping the team to seven league titles and four Italian cups.
During that time he lost two Champions League finals in three years and lost the Euro 2012 final with the national side – but that shouldn’t takeaway from his legendary status.
Gold looks good on you--
During his time at the club Marchisio has rarely been the lead vocals in Juventus’ midfield, having to carry out more of the dirty work in the shadows of Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba, Pavel Nedved and Momo Sissoko.
But in the galaxy of stars Marchisio has played his role to perfection.
Acting as the ultimate box-to-box player that is happy to do the dirty work at both ends of the field while his midfield regista paints pictures.
So why wasn’t he handed a contract for life and had his shirt number retired?
The thank you letter to #Juventus fans from Claudio Marchisio. Grazie @ClaMarchisio8, grazie 1000 
pic.twitter.com/wPHBLE9NTA
— Adam Digby (@Adz77) August 22, 2018
That’s just not how Juventus do things.
Recent major depatures have shown that there isn’t much sentimentality in Turin.
Legendary Benjamin Button goalkeeper Gigi Buffon left the club for PSG in May after 17 years and even though there had been lots of warning of his departure, there was no special parade but just a passionate goodbye from the fans.
The same situation happened with Del Piero, where instead of the club allowing them to retire there, the legends are shipped out before they are ready to give up playing.
OK, Marchisio is no Del Piero but it still feels like he deserved a more heartfelt goodbye.
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