Real Madrid nearly signed Andrea Pirlo following Italy's win in the 2006 World Cup.

"It's the summer of 2006, we've just won the World Cup, and I'm thoroughly drunk on life," writes Pirlo. "I go out and about on my bike in the quiet little streets of Forte dei Marmi and, as I pass by on the seafront, people stop and pat me on the back.

"They must have thought that beating France in the final had fried my brain, but there was something they didn't know. They were missing a vital piece of the story, namely that as things stood, I belonged to Real Madrid, not Milan. I was a Madrid player in my head, my heart and my soul. I had a five-year contract sitting waiting, and a salary that was out of this world."

Pirlo was at AC Milan and the club eventually decided to not let him leave.

"It's a pity it went the way it did. I'd have signed for Real in a heartbeat. They're a club with more glamour than Milan; more prospects, more appeal, more everything. They strike fear in their opponents, whoever they happen to be.

"All that said, at the end of the season I had the consolation of winning the Champions League. It could have gone a lot worse."

Pirlo went to Juventus in 2011.