Adrian Mutu has told Eurosport his seven-month drug ban was a "wake-up call" which has breathed life into his shattered career. Sacked by Chelsea in October and suspended for admitting using cocaine, the Romania forward has now been snapped up by Juventus and believes he can re-build his life.
"It was a wake-up call. You know, if I hadn't had this wake-up call, things would have got worse and worse, so it was very good what happened to me," admitted Mutu frankly, who was also fined 29,000 euros by the FA and ordered to undergo drug rehabilitation.
"I can see the sun now. I can see my new future, my new motivation and I hope I can win something with Juventus, because I didn't have the chance to win something with Chelsea. I'm alright now, I'm calm. I'm training well and I hope to get my fitness back and everything starts from that."
Mutu joined Chelsea in the fanfare of a 23m euro move from Parma and began life at Stamford Bridge with a spark, scoring four in his first three games before fading badly to add only a further two to his tally in the remainder of the season.
After a proposed loan move to the Stadio delle Alpi collapsed over the summer, Mutu then bickered publicly with new Blues supremo Jose Mourinho before exiting the club disgraced by a positive dope test.
"You can imagine how bad I felt? I felt very bad. I felt the lowest man in the world. I lost everything," revealed Mutu. "I experienced a bad period in my life. But I have some friends - I have a psychologist, he's helped me a lot and now I'm able to get over everything and work again."
The lifeline the current Serie A leaders have thrown Mutu is considerable - a five-year contract which the forward, who finished second-top scorer in his last season on the peninsula, hopes to be able to start repaying by helping Fabio Capello's side claim the Champions League trophy.
His ban is due to come to an end on May 18th, a mere week before the final in Istanbul's Atatürk Olympic stadium, and Mutu is confident of his new side being involved.
But the former Verona man refuses to day-dream of the prospect of taking sweet revenge by snatching European football's top prize from the grasp of Mourinho et al.
"I'm expecting us to get to the final, not necessarily against Chelsea. If it's Chelsea, it's even better, but I'm expecting to get to the final, to win something important," said a determined Mutu, the slightest hint of a smirk playing across his face.
"So, I hope I can train well. I hope Juve can help me win in Serie A and in the Champions League. At the end of the season, I want to have a medal in my pocket."