If his words ring true then the Swiss-born 57-year-old would have taken over the helm at the Turin giants rather than Ciro Ferrara, who experienced a largely unsuccessful stint.
Journeyman Giampaolo, who joined Lecce as head coach last November following a two-year hiatus after getting the boot as Sampdoria boss, revealed his Juve connection to La Stampa.
The Italian daily newspaper in Turin printed his quotes. No doubt supporters will hark back to their disappointing season under Ferrara, and consider what Giampaolo could have achieved.
Giampaolo, who was head coach for Siena during the 2008/2009 season, explained in his interview: “The directors [Alessio] Secco, [Renzo] Castagnini and [Jean-Claude] Blanc called me.
“I remember going to Turin for dinner at Blanc’s house, then I left to return home to Giulianova at night.
“During the journey, they called me back to say that there was a 99% chance that I would be the new Juventus coach, and that it just needed to be ratified by the board of directors or something like that.
“You can imagine. I was 40 years old. Who would have thought about coaching Juventus? How many people get to sit on that bench in a hundred years?
“Unfortunately, after a couple of days, they told me that bigger decisions were at play, that it wasn’t just up to them, and they ended up choosing Ferrara.”
Ferrara, part of the technical staff for Italy’s FIFA 2006 World Cup triumph, joined Juventus as youth system chief and was installed as interim boss in 2008.
He was promoted from interim manager for the final two matches of the 2008/09 campaign, overseeing back-to-back victories without conceding against Siena and Lazio.
These impressive wins earned him a shot as permanent manager for the 2009/10 season, with Giampaolo’s interest dismissed by the Bianconeri.
Ferrara bolstered the squad with Brazilian internationals Diego and Felipe Melo and the World Cup-winning defensive duo of Fabio Cannavaro and Fabio Grosso. He reeled off victories in the season’s first four Serie A games.
Things got tougher throughout the campaign, with the club setting extremely high expectations.
After Juventus were knocked out of Champions League, following a 4-1 home defeat to Bayern Munich, they bounced back to win maximum points in the Derby D’Italia against Inter Milan.
It turned into a bleak winter for Juve with a string of defeats, including losses to minnows Bari and Catania, piling the pressure on Ferrara.
When the club were given the knockout blow by Inter in the Coppa Italia, it was only a matter of time before Ferrara was given the boot. The reversal and with the team sitting sixth in Serie A, Ferrara was promptly replaced in January 2010 by Alberto Zaccheroni until the end of the season.
Giampaolo was again overlooked, despite being available having been sacked by Siena in October 2009. He was appointed Catania head coach in May 2010, only to be dismissed six months into the season.
Ferrara became the Italy U21 head coach in late 2010, with the Azzurrini unbeaten in the European Championships qualifiers during his stint. He was lured by the overtures of promoted Serie A side Sampdoria for the 2012/13 season, but was axed in December 2012.
He was tempted by the big bucks in helping Wuhan Zall for the 2016/17 season try to win promotion to the Chinese Super League, which was his last coaching position.
At the same time Giampaolo was making an impact at Sampdoria, where he stayed for three years but lost almost as many games as he won.
Giampaolo was sacked as Siena boss in October 2009, after falling out of the running to join Juventus. He subsequently experienced short stints with Catania, Cesena, Brescia, Empoli, AC Milan and Torino. However, he lasted three years in his first spell at Sampdoria, winning 49 of his 123 matches in charge.
He admitted: “My career has been a rollercoaster. But I’m proud to say that I’ve always managed to get back up and had the strength, at different times, to start over.”
His far from impressive managerial record indicates that he would not have been able to cut the mustard with such a prestigious club as Juventus, even if they had splashed the cash like they did for Ferrara.
Since Giampaolo joined Lecce last November, he has won four times from a dozen matches with the lack of goals leaving the Puglia-based team in a relegation battle.
Whether Giampaolo could have become an iconic manager at Juventus will never be known, although he lasted longer than Ferrara at Sampdoria. The journeyman head coach can now only dream of what if as he prepares his Lecce squad for Serie A action.