David Alaba wished to move to Italy in the final act of his career and accepted an offer from Udinese. He took the medicals in Rome on Wednesday and put pen to paper on Thursday, Messaggero Veneto reports.
The 34-year-old spent the summer as a free agent after Real Madrid didn’t renew his contract. He inked a one-year deal with the Friulani. He amassed 131 appearances in 5 years with Los Galacticos, contributing to 11 trophies, including 2 UEFA Champions League. Before moving to Spain, he had a long and successful run at Bayern Munich.
Alaba was offered to Juventus, Milan, and Inter during the summer, but they passed on him due to his recent injury woes and age, instead Udinese gladly seized the opportunity. They have had some issues in the back, conceding 11 goals in the first 5 matches.
According to Goal and Fabrizio Romano (via SOSFanta), Lazio and Atalanta had seriously weighed bringing in the Austrian talisman. However, the Biancocelesti ultimately preferred Diogo Leite. La Dea elected not to follow up on their interest. The Old Lady thought about it too but moved on a while ago.
Udinese aren’t new to this kind of acquisition, La Gazzetta dello Sport informs. For instance, they signed Franco Causio after he left Juventus in 1981, Zico in 1983, Daniel Bertoni and Francesco Graziani in 1986, Andrea Carnevale in 1993, and Carsten Jancker in 2002. More recently, they onboarded Gerard Deulofeu and Florian Thauvin, with solid results.
Our Take on Udinese Adding Alaba
It’ll be interesting to see how much he has left in the tank and whether he stays healthy, as he could have helped more than a few bigger sides if so.
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