Leandro Paredes has explained his move to Juventus this summer, stating that he’d always wanted to join the club and return to Serie A.
The Argentine midfielder previously enjoyed a four-year spell on the peninsula with Chievo Verona, Empoli and AS Roma before making a move to Zenit St. Petersburg and then his current parent club Paris Saint-Germain.
Having completed a late window loan move back to Serie A with Juve this summer, Paredes revealed that he’d been keen to take his talents back to Italy during his official unveiling press conference.
“Why did I choose Juve? I’ve wanted to come here for a long time,” he said. “I wanted to return to Serie A and play in this shirt.
“I joined a great team, with strong players and a strong coach. I know we can do better than we did in the last two games, I’m happy to be here and I want to give my contribution in every game. I want to give the team my best and everything it will need. I went out of my way to come here. The return to Italy? It’s too early to say what has changed, certainly I have changed. I have matured a lot as a player and as a man.”
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Coincidently for Paredes, one of his first games as a Juventus player was against PSG, whom Juve were beaten by 2-1 in a feisty game at the Parc des Princes in midweek. The midfielder was keen to take the positives from the match, despite the defeat.
“Against PSG we have shown that we can fight with everyone, we must continue to improve to collect positive results,” he added. “You can always improve, even when things go well you can improve. Now let’s think about the next game, we want to win.”
Paredes and Juventus are set to face off against Salernitana at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday evening.