Leicester reportedly wanted to bring Serie A veteran Francesco Acerbi to the Premier League during Claudio Ranieri’s spell at the King Power Stadium,
Lazio hero Francesco Acerbi has admitted in an Instagram Q&A that he turned down the opportunity to sign for Leicester City, instead deciding to stay in Serie A.
At the age of 32, a six-time Italy international is in the form of his life.
Acerbi is the battle-scarred warrior at the heart of a Lazio side chasing their first Scudetto triumph in 20 years. While the likes of Ciro Immobile, Luis Alberto and Joaquin Correa have hogged the headlines and understandably so, the veteran centre-back is the man who holds Simone Inzaghi’s thrilling side together like superglue.
So Lazio, you’d imagine, will be very glad that Acerbi turned down the chance to join compatriot Claudio Ranieri at Leicester.
“I could have gone to England, to Ranieri’s Leicester,” says the one-time AC Milan stopper, who also turned down Roberto Mancini’z Zenit St Petersburg and opted to stay instead at Sassuolo.
“I had the chance to go to Leicester but I’m a very grateful person.
“At that time I didn’t want to go away from Dr Squinzi [Sassuolo owner], who he had been very close to me in times of difficulty. I said no [to the chance to leave] because of Sassuolo’s help.”
Acerbi had been diagnosed with testicular cancer a few years before Leicester expressed their interest and the experienced centre-back was in no mood to turn his back on the club who helped and supported him through the most daunting challenge of his life.
Acerbi eventually stayed at Sassuolo until 2018 before making the step up with Lazio. And only those with a heart of stone would begrudge this old warrior the chance to get his hands on that Serie A title for the very first time.
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