Giorgio Chiellini’s two-year excursion in Los Angeles ended this week, though the Italian defender expects his family, separately or together, to visit “our second city” as often as possible.
On Tuesday, the Italian defender shared his plans announcing his departure from the Los Angeles Football Club in order to return to Turin, his first city, located at the base of the Alps in northern Italy, where Chiellini will “start the second part of my life.”
With a contract as an ambassador for Juventus, his club of 20 years prior to joining LAFC in 2022, Chiellini is set to determine next steps. He spent the past six months preparing for what might be coming by experiencing LAFC in a variety of ways beyond the locker room and the playing field.
Spending time with the club’s co-presidents John Thorrington and Larry Freedman while participating in meetings across the organization, Chiellini, still very much a student at the age of 40, set out to understand the full picture of the game.
“My goal is to be part of management in soccer,” he said. “At Juventus is one of the best opportunities I could have, but I have not yet figured out anything because I need to be there. I need to understand how it’s working with my family and I need to weigh many things before jumping into a full-time job.”
First things first, Chiellini will address his last bit of LAFC-related business in Turin by having surgery to repair the torn meniscus he suffered in last year’s MLS Cup title game loss at Columbus.
If you don’t know who the slender center back was as a competitor, playing 90 minutes with an injured knee at the age of 39 years and 117 days – the oldest non-goalkeeper to start an MLS Cup final – is another sample to toss on Chiellini’s pile of give-it-all moments.
Had his body held up and his level remained high, the serial winner would not have retired days after losing 2-1 to the Crew. Injuries weren’t uncommon later in his career, and prevented him from playing in the 2022 MLS Cup victory against Philadelphia.
But last year’s repeat bid delivered three straight 90-minute performances, a run that began in Seattle, which is where LAFC heads on Saturday night for the first time since a guided missile by Denis Bouanga sent them to the Western Conference final with a 1-0 win.
More than half a year after hanging up his cleats, what Chiellini misses most is the chance to take care of his body and train everyday. Coming to terms with something that seems familiar to non-pro athletes, “now you don’t have the same time if you want to work and learn and still have time for the family,” he said in late June, in the midst of broadcast work for FOX covering the 2024 European championship.
Two days after reacting on live TV to Italy’s dramatic tying goal in the 98th minute against Croatia that sent the Azzurri into the knockout stage, Chiellini said that he didn’t originally come to L.A. with opportunities like that in mind.
In a larger sense, though, it was a great way to accomplish what he did want: “to be known not just as a player but as a person in the U.S. Yes, I really wanted to establish myself here and to get more known.”
Watching the broadcast at his apartment in Culver City, Lorenzo Dellavalle had gotten to know Chiellini as well as anyone in the States.
The club expressed interest in Dellavalle last July after Italy’s first game of the 2023 U-19 Euros. He didn’t want to think about it until the tournament ended, which it did following five starts anchoring the tournament champion’s defensive unit.
A couple of weeks later, Dellavalle decided that the MLS offer came with less pressure than Europe, quicker opportunities to play for a first team that expects to win, and a chance to grow up as a person away from his family and friends in Turin after a decade in the Juventus system.
When the deal was announced, Chiellini reached out, inviting Dellavalle to ask questions or contact him for anything he needed.
“When he called me and said, ‘You can speak with me. I am your friend.’ I say, ‘No, no no, you’re my idol. I have so much respect for you and I can’t talk to you like a friend,’” Dellavalle said. “He’s my idol. Whoa.”
For a Turinese center back who carried photos of Chiellini around with him instead of placing them into photobooks of Juventus rosters, the gestures took some getting used to.
Treated to dinner and invited to Chiellini’s home, where he stayed over, represented “little things a young guy could remember for his life,” said Chiellini, whose personal callbacks involve the great Italian defender Paulo Maldini.
Dellavalle could not have imagined back when his dad, a big Juventus supporter, called an up-and-coming Chiellini a great example of the “Juventus Life; Juventus DNA,” that someday they would exchange calls and texts on a regular basis.
The 20-year-old highly-regarded center back with Italian youth national credentials and appearances for Juventus hadn’t signed with LAFC because of Chiellini, but his presence became an incredible bonus, especially since the kid didn’t speak a word of English. Now he can carry on full conversations without much of a problem, something Dellavalle’s friend and idol said will open him up to the wider world.
In the meantime, his friend’s retirement meant LAFC needed reinforcements at the back. Dellavalle appeared on the first team roster as training camp began, and was in line for playing time until tearing the ACL and meniscus in his right knee during LAFC’s second preseason exhibition, a closed-door contest against Charlotte at BMO Stadium in early February.
Again, he leaned on Chiellini, who had torn his ACL in 2019 and recovered to help lead the senior Italian squad to the European title three years later.
“I played so early after the ACL, but if I had the opportunity to come back I would have done much more slowly,” Chiellini said. “If he rests more now it will help some years in his career, not just weeks or some months.”
According to LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo, recent tests showed Dellavalle is recovering ahead of schedule, which means he can start running again.
Although the opportunity to compete alongside his idol has passed, for whatever length of time Dellavalle remains in Los Angeles, Chiellini’s pay-it-forward sensibility will stick with him.
“If you need something, he says, ‘Yes, of course,’” Dellavalle said. “I want to be generous, too.”
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Lumen Field, Seattle
TV/Radio: Apple TV+ – MLS Season Pass/710 AM, 980 AM
