Reader TTS

Fabio Cannavaro is widely lauded as one of the greatest defenders of his generation.  The former Parma, Juventus and Real Madrid man won multiple titles across a glittering domestic career,

as well as the World Cup with Italy in 2006. He remains the last defender to win the Ballon d'Or, which he achieved following the latter success. Yet few football fans know that he

could easily have inspired AC Milan to success instead of the aforementioned clubs. As a youngster, Cannavaro had the chance to play for another Italian giant, only for them to _reject him_

due to his relatively-short 5ft 9 stature.  You may like "I will tell you something that you surely don’t know. At the start of my professional career, I didn’t move to AC Milan because

of my stature," Cannavaro tells _FourFourTwo_ in an exclusive chat. "Years later, the Rossoneri general manager, Ariedo Braida, came to me and said, 'Fabio, I have to admit

that I didn’t think you would turn out to be such a great player – I thought you were too small for that. I have to apologise to you, as I didn’t finalise a move for you because of your

height.'" Cannavaro believes, despite Milan's former reservations, his height was of little disadvantage throughout his playing days, owing to other traits which made up for

this size.  "I have always made the most of my characteristics to cope against taller strikers," he tells FFT. "I could anticipate what would happen next and jump in front of

them; I was also explosive, so I could jump quite high. I was born in Naples, which is a city that forces you to adapt to things, and this is exactly what I did on the pitch: I adapted to

reality." MORE STORIES _MBAPPE __SUPERSTAR PUT UP FOR SALE AS PSG PANIC OVER REAL MADRID TRANSFER AGREEMENT_ The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every

week. _ARSENAL __GUNNERS LOOKING TO BEAT MANCHESTER UNITED TO DEFENSIVE TARGET IN TRANSFER SWOOP_ _CHELSEA __BLUES 'REACH AGREEMENT' FOR TRANSFER OF £39M MIDFIELD STARLET FROM

LONDON RIVALS_