Report: Juve’s new president wants Alessandro Del Piero to join on as vice president

As John Elkann, the man in charge of Juventus’ holding company, works to put together the new board of the directors at Italy’s biggest football club, the overlying understanding is that there is going to be a little more business acumen sitting at the table. That is very much the specialty of Gianluca Ferrero, who is in line to take over for Elkann’s cousin, Andrea Agnelli, as Juventus’ president. Same goes for the man who will become Juve’s next Direttore Generale, Maurizio Scanavino.

But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be born-and-bred football people on the new board.

Not even close — and Juventus might be shooting a very big shot when it comes to who becomes to work directly under their new president.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport’s Fabiana Della Valle on Thursday morning, Ferrero is hoping that a certain former Juventus No. 10 by the name of Alessandro Del Piero will answer the call and come back to Turin to serve as the club’s next vice president, replacing his good friend Pavel Nedved in the process. Nedved, along with Agnelli, was part of the board of directors that resigned in a stunning move Monday prompted by the ongoing investigation into Juve’s finances and false accounting.

While Elkann’s desire is to have a board with certain characteristics who can help Juventus work its way through this current crisis, Del Piero would likely have more of a role in the sporting area of things, helping Federico Cherubini and Max Allegri when it comes to on-field aspects of the club.

Gazzetta is quick to point out that talks between Del Piero and Juventus have not started yet, but the general assumption is that Ferrero will reach out to the Bianconeri’s all-time leading goal scorer in the near future to discuss a possible role with the new board.

It comes in the wake of Del Piero leaving the door open to a possible return to Juventus during an interview while covering the World Cup in Qatar. As he spoke of what was going on at Juventus in the take of Monday’s resignations by the entire board of directors — a tough task considering what club he was discussing as well as the people involved in the sudden resignations — Del Piero was directly asked about coming back to Juventus and be a part of the new board. He said the following while on the beIN Sports broadcast:

“You’re asking the question to someone like me that spent almost 20 years there. I got relegated with the team and I decided to stay so the relationships with me and the team, with the owners, the fans, are quite deep, very deep. We’ve been through everything to reach the top of the world and the bottom point in the club’s entire history. This great journey brought me here with you.

“It’s something where every news regarding Juve is emotional for me and I’m going to stand by and see what’s going to happen. I was with them this summer for the tour they did in Los Angeles where I live, and also in Lisbon. I’m friends with Pavel and everybody. It’s sad for me seeing this situation.”

“I don’t know the plan; nobody has called me. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know very well all that’s happened. I still have a house in the city...”

(Source: Yahoo! Sports)

It is believed that Del Piero, who has previously been hesitant to return to a role at Juventus because of his business ventures and family relocating to Los Angeles, would want a bigger role at the club along the lines of Paolo Maldini at AC Milan. Which is understandable considering what a sudden change it would be for Del Piero to relocate back to Turin after sounding very settled and very happy with how things are going in the United States.

But, it’s not like this kind of opportunity comes up all too often. And if this is Del Piero’s chance to both becomes a big figure in Juve’s front office as well as get the club out of this current crisis, then it might be a hard one to turn down no matter if it’s Elkann or Ferrero who come calling.