Miralem Pjanic says he will never forget his five years at Roma, but now he is a Juventus player, he has seen why the Bianconeri have been so successful in recent years.
The Bosnian midfielder was officially presented as a Juventus player on Tuesday, with a week of training in Turin already behind him. He said he had needed just that length of time in his new surroundings to realise why Juve have won the past five Serie A titles.
"I knew as an opponent how strong Juve are, but when you get inside here, you see so many different things that make you realise why it was always so hard to stay ahead of them at Roma," Pjanic said at a news conference at the Juventus Stadium.
"You work so hard here and we all want to win the titles we won last year, and then some. Right from day one, I got messages from everybody here, from winners and great men. They made me realise that they are all delighted to have me here."
Pjanic has sent some messages of his own, not least to Roma coach Luciano Spalletti and his former Giallorossi teammates Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi.
"I thanked them for five years together," Pjanic said. "I will never forget Roma. They're sorry to lose me because I was held in high regard in the dressing room, but the message Totti and the others sent me was moving.
"This is football. I hope to win a lot and I've got great players here who can help me win titles, which is my dream. I'm sure I made the right choice to win. Juve have always been interested in me and this was a step I had to take to further my career, and to be a winner."
Acquista la maglia di @Miralem_Pjanic allo Stadium Megastore: foto e autografi in arrivo! https://t.co/0RZXTCD4aN pic.twitter.com/0GbimzqSgg
- JuventusFC (@juventusfc) July 11, 2016
Many see Pjanic as the last piece of the puzzle for Juve to be able to transform their domestic success into Champions League glory. The 26-year-old, who will wear the No. 5 shirt worn by his "idol Zinedine Zidane" at Real Madrid, does not see that as the only aim for the upcoming season, however.
"What matters first of all is that we win the trophies we won last year," he said. "But a club like Juventus want to win everything in the league and in the cup. The Scudetto is our priority and we want to write history -- six titles in a row would be legend."
Pjanic will look to make his contribution, possibly with his speciality: direct free kicks.
"I worked with a true specialist, Juninho at Lyon," he said. "I have my own technique and I'm perfecting it, trying to be as dangerous as possible and be able to decide matches, which often you win from dead ball situations.
"I'm working hard on this, but I know there are other players at Juve who hit the ball well. I want to be decisive, though. I'll try to get the best out of my teammates. We'll share [the free kicks] around for the good of the team."