Former AC Milan sporting director, Massimiliano Mirabelli has used Andrea Pirlo as an example to show that great players don’t necessarily make great coaches.
Pirlo was named as the manager of Juventus this season in a surprising move by the club.
They have won the last nine Italian league titles and this campaign offers them the chance to win their 10th consecutive Scudetto.
They would have appeared smarter if they had named an experienced manager as a replacement for Maurizio Sarri or possibly have kept him on.
However, they have gone with Pirlo who has no senior managerial experience and they can only hope that he delivers a trophy for them.
Mirabelli was speaking to Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli via Calciomercato about Gennaro Gattuso whom he made manager at AC Milan and who is now managing Napoli and he claimed that success as a football player doesn’t necessarily mean you will succeed as a manager before he name-checked Pirlo.
He said: “I had to go to war to put him on the Milan bench. It is not said that a great player is also a great coach , just look at Pirlo. But Gattuso was world champion, but he had already put himself on the line, not going straight to noble squares. He had already learned a lot in other squares, he had gained experience and now he is doing well at Napoli. can do it at Napoli for as long as possible “.