“I’ve absolutely no interest in jogging to warm up my muscles. The muscle that counts most is the heart and mine’s always set at 100 degrees,” Mr Andrea Pirlo wrote in his 2013 autobiography I Think Therefore I Play. Seven years on, it still feels especially indicative of his time on the football pitch. Appointed the new manager of Juventus in August after hanging up his playing boots in 2017, we can assume his philosophy towards training has changed somewhat. We have to assume, because he is not spending time with MR PORTER to talk in-depth about his new job. But looking back on a near 20-year career as a top-flight midfielder, his words still resonate.

Lest you do not know this Italian footballing god, he’s won a World Cup with Italy, is a six-time Italian champion with Juventus and AC Milan and has won two Champions League finals. He has, invariably, been referred to as Il Maestro, the metronome and l’architetto, for his style of play and influence on the game. This is a man who sauntered around the pitch directing proceedings like a particularly unbothered conductor, making the most incisive passes, yet not doing anything as vulgar as break into a sweat. Indeed, he must be one of the most elegant and stylish players to ever grace the game. If you need an apt distillation of his very being, go to YouTube and watch the Panenka penalty he scored against England in 2012, sending an agitated Mr Joe Hart sprawling on the turf. And to think: he did all of this without even warming up.

Mr Pirlo’s quote is not only revealing of his career and the influence his playing style has had in professional leagues (not to mention five-a-side games) the world over; it is also indicative of his way of living and, by extension, dressing. He is noted for his relaxed style and demeanour off the pitch as much as on it, and it is central to the reason he has been chosen to collaborate with Italian brand Brunello Cucinelli to show off its latest autumn collection – a match, we think you’ll agree, that’s more than a little fitting.

Such is Mr Pirlo’s manner that he has often been described as representing “sprezzatura” – the living, breathing embodiment of that nonchalant way of dressing that only Italians seem to be able to achieve. Speaking to him via Zoom as he slouches on a couch in his Turin home, he is in fact so relaxed and carefree on the matter of clothes that he has not even made space for the word in his vocabulary. “What is ‘sprezzatura’? I don’t know…” he says, when we put the notion to him. After his assistant steps in to help with a possible definition, he politely answers, in an insouciant, soothing voice. “This is just my way of being,” he drawls. “I do not fake anything. That’s just me.”

His distinctly assured approach becomes somewhat of a theme over the course of our conversation. Mr Pirlo has never had a style icon, for example, or anyone he looks up to for inspiration. “I have always chosen the clothes I have worn, even as a child, and no one has ever given me any suggestions,” he says, almost affronted at the suggestion that he may pilfer here and there from people he admires. He doesn’t even let any product touch his famous locks or beard. “I like to leave my hair wet when I take a shower,” he says. “I just use my hands to fix it. I don’t waste any time grooming my hair or beard. I cut my beard when it’s too long – just like one of those little guys in Playmobil.”

Serenity on the pitch, serenity in his bathroom cabinet and, it would seem, his wardrobe, which is not a place for clutter, either. Everything in Mr Pirlo’s universe is in order. We’d say it all bends to his will, but there is no need when everything is, apparently, already just so. “My style is very simple, its sporty and casual at the same time. Nothing special,” he tells us. If he’s at a football event, you might see Mr Pirlo in a perfectly tailored dark-blue suit. If he’s on his vineyard (more on that later) – perhaps a rollneck or a plaid shirt. In fact, he laughs at the notion that there might be anything in his clothing collection that could surprise people. He likes to fill his closet with Italian-made clothing, which, to him, represents “high-quality style and fabrics”. No wonder, then, that Italian football players dress better than the English? A rare show of mirth spreads across his face. “It depends on the football player,” he says diplomatically, adding that he appreciated the style of Mr David Beckham when he played alongside him at AC Milan. “The more renowned players like to wear things that are more sophisticated, more special. But we can say that in Italy it is easier to find good, quality products.”

It is clear, then, to see why he leapt at the chance to work with Brunello Cucinelli – a brand, founded in 1978 in a sleepy hamlet, Solomeo, and known for its high-quality materials, craftsmanship and understated, elegant design – and to wear this new collection, available to shop at MR PORTER now. “It’s a brand that I really like – the simplicity of the items and the soft colours. I really like the style. It doesn’t create something too eccentric.” Shot in the environs of an 18th-century country house 40 minutes’ drive from his home in Turin, you can see these themes reflected in the cosy, print cardigan, for example, the short-sleeved indigo shirt, say, and the pastel-yellow gilet. Even the fact that these images were shot on film seems fitting for Mr Pirlo and this collaboration – a man that takes his time, whatever he seems to do, dressed in a brand that labours over its meticulous production methods, pictured via a medium that is in no hurry to come up with the goods, either. And if it means getting superior results, what’s the rush?

The slow craft doesn’t end there. Fans of Mr Pirlo will know that he also spends time making wine on his vineyard, situated on a hillside just outside his home city of Brescia. He describes this as both a hobby and a business. “My grandfather was a wine producer. It has always been a family passion,” he tells us. “In 2007 I had the opportunity to take over a vineyard near my father’s house and, with my family, founded Pratum Coller. Pratum Coller’s characteristic is eco-sustainable production. We want to keep intact the principles of nature and its essence in the purest form. Clarification and filtration have been reduced to a minimum throughout the entire production process.”

As a man who is no stranger to success, his favourite tipple comes as no surprise. “Over time I have been lucky enough to be able to taste a lot of foreign wines, but one of my favourites is champagne.” Here’s hoping that his new career direction warrants just as much bubbly as his last. As you might expect, he doesn’t intend on changing his carefree approach, even in the intense, fickle world of management. “Of course! That’s my style – I will keep it for everything I do.”