Thursday 14 January 2016 10:24, UK
Andrea Pirlo has reaffirmed his commitment to New York City FC following speculation linking him with a loan move back to Italian side Inter.
The midfielder - who turns 37 in May - will join his American club for a 12-day pre-season training camp in Florida under new head coach Patrick Vieira from next weekend.
He has revealed a number of clubs have enquired about his availability since the regular MLS season finished in October.
One of those was Inter, who Pirlo was contracted to between 1998 and 2001 before he moved to their city rivals AC Milan.
But Pirlo is committed to life across the Atlantic for now and told Corriere della Sera: "Inter? A few teams have asked for me in the last few weeks.
"But I made a choice and it didn't seem appropriate to disavow it after a few months. It's also a question of respect for those who have invested in me."
Pirlo played 13 times for New York and scored twice as they finished eighth in the 10-team Eastern Conference at the end of their inaugural season.
He arrived halfway through the campaign after appearing in the Champions League final for Juventus against Barcelona.
The 116-cap playmaker - who remains hopeful of playing for Italy at Euro 2016 - added: "After losing the Champions League final in Berlin I reflected for a moment.
"I knew that it would have been difficult to repeat a season in which [Juventus] won the Scudetto and the Coppa Italia.
"After a certain amount of years you can only get worse. So I went to the president and told him I wanted a new experience, but not just to keep going: to get back into the game.
"[Juventus president] Andrea Agnelli is a smart guy, he's very good. There was a verbal agreement with him whereby I could leave, and that's how it went."
