IN A RUSH

Ian Rush scored 139 goals for Liverpool in 224 matches. It was little surprise when Serie A, at the time the richest league in the World, came calling for his services. Juventus paid £3.2m for their man amd expected goals to flow, as they had seen in the English First DivisiOn. Juve was soon to be disappointed!  Rush made his debut at Empoli and barely got a "touch". Rush puffed that "It was tight and very warm out there. I didn't get one good ball, all match...but it is bound to the difficult!" His remarks didn't go down well with Juve manager, Rino Marchesi, who responded, "If he wants passes, then he should go looking for more of them." Sio the "new boy" knuckled down and in his next match, at home to Pascara, Rush scored twice in a 3-1 win. BUT Rush only scored one more goal before the end of January and there were rumours of "homesickness" and Rush failing to integrate with the Italian society. He ended the season with 13 league and cup goals, making him club top scorer, however the "return" was below expectations.

Despite the team being in "transition" following the retirement of  Michel Platini, Rush took the blame for Juve's poor sixth place in the League, though he did end his horror season on a high note, scoring the only goal in a game in Brescia.....FOR WALES against Italy!

BY August 1988, Rush had re-signed for Liverpool and he was famously reported as saying that his time in Italy had been like "living in a foreign country"!!! However it was recorded that one of his Anfield mates had fed the line to the press!! While Rush was away, Liverpool had played the most celebrated "football" in the club's history. When Aldridge heard the news of Rush's return, he rang the Liverpool Echo (paper) to check its truth! Rush never hit the heights he had achieved in his previous spell at Anfield, while Aldridge left the club against his will, going to Real Sociedad in 1990! See below....worth a look!!

https://thesefootballtimes.co/2015/02/24/ian-rush-twelve-months-in-a-foreign-country/