Chiellini meets with Borussia Mönchengladbach s young defender Chiarodia in London, triggering transfer speculation

Italian media "Sports of Milan" reported that Chiellini spent two days in London. The former Juventus central defender will meet with Juventus in Germany tonight to watch the team's friendly match against Dortmund tomorrow. While in London, Chiellini made a short stop and met with young defender Fabio Chiarodia.

Ciarodia plays as central defender like Chiellini, is Italian and born in 2005. He was born in Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, where his father Fabiano opened an ice cream shop in 1982. Chiarodia has returned to Italy for vacation many times. Although she has never played in Italy, she has been a regular visitor to Italian youth teams at all levels since the Italian U15 national team. He grew up in Werder Bremen's youth training system and transferred to Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2023. Last season, he made 16 appearances in the Bundesliga and scored a header against Hoffenheim. He is close to 190 cm tall and has outstanding heading ability.

The story of Ciarodia begins in Cintoca Omagiore, Italy, a small town with 3,000 residents less than 80 kilometers from Venice. His football career has developed entirely in Germany. Chiarodia started playing football at the age of 3. As the youngest of the three brothers, imitating big brother Alex to play football was once his greatest pleasure. Who would have thought that football would become his profession later? Maybe his parents and uncle had a premonition because they had driven back and forth with the young Fabio just to allow him to participate in Werder Bremen's training. At the age of 9, Werder Bremen recruited him into the youth training camp. 50 kilometers one way and 100 kilometers round trip. The huge effort paid off on July 13, 2021, and Chiarodia was called up by the first team for the first time. He was taking a chemistry class at the time and received this news. Just two days ago, Chiellini held up the European Cup trophy at Wembley Stadium, while Chiarodia watched the game at Oldenburg's own ice cream shop. The coincidence of fate meets four years later, and the two meet in London.

Shake hands, hug, smile. The club Mönchengladbach posted these moments of Chiarodia and Chiellini being together on its social media, and the caption summarized as "Meeting with the Master". Under the relevant pictures, there are also comments saying "A Italian legend and the future of Italy". These images have also sparked some speculations about player transfers. However, Chiellini, who is Juventus' management, is not for this purpose, and he is not responsible for the transfer negotiations. Of course, his recognition of a young player may have an impact. Now, some people have regarded Chiarodia as Chiellini's heir, at least at the Italian national team level. At the end of 2022, he was recruited by Roberto Mancini to participate in the training camp for the Italian team in Covilciano.