Pirlo committed to New York City amid interest from Inter Milan
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, to whom Pirlo was contracted between 1998-2001 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."
