Earlier that year, the legendary defender captained Italy to FIFA World Cup glory. His solid defensive performances during the tournament, which helped his team keep five clean sheets and concede only two goals, even earned him the prestigious Ballon d’Or.
Cannavaro also led Juventus to the 2006 Serie A title, but the Turin giants were stripped of their honor due to allegations of match-fixing made against the club. The Calciopoli scandal, as it came to be known, also saw the Bianconeri demoted to Serie B. As a result of the controversy, the World Cup winner wanted to leave the club to play top-flight football.
A host of European giants, including Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea, were interested in the centre-back’s services once word got out that he wanted to leave Juventus. However, it was Real Madrid who ended up signing him on a three-year contract for €7 million.
Cannavaro has now admitted that he was very close to joining the Blues that summer. He told The Telegraph:
Cannavaro spent three seasons at Real Madrid, making 118 appearances for the club across all competitions. He won two La Liga titles and 1 Spanish Super Cup during that period.
Fabio Cannavaro considered for managerial jobs in the Premier League
In the same interview, Fabio Cannavaro admitted that he is keen on managing a club in Europe. The 48-year-old revealed that he was interviewed for the vacant managerial role at Premier League club Everton before Frank Lampard landed the job. He said:
Cannavaro added that he was also under consideration for the managerial role at Watford after the club sacked Xisco Munoz. However, the job was eventually given to former England boss Roy Hodgson.
The former Real Madrid man said:
Cannavaro has a fair bit of managerial experience, having enjoyed stints at Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr as well as Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande and Tianjin Quanjian.
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