DBasia.news – Gennaro Gattuso also commented on Juventus’ shocking decision to appoint former player, Andrea Pirlo to take over as team head coach.
Pirlo, who has never had previous coaching experience and was only appointed as Juventus Under-23 coach last week, was entrusted with controlling the main Turin squad following Maurizio Sarri’s dismissal last Saturday.
Sarri was fired after having spent just one full season with the Bianconeri, leading the Scudetto side but crashing out of the Champions League top 16 to Olympique Lyon.
Pirlo successfully presented four Scudettos, one Coppa Italia and two Italian Super Cups in his four seasons, signed a two-season contract and now faces the challenge of managing a big team like the Old Lady in his first career as a coach.
Gattuso, who played alongside Pirlo at AC Milan and the Italian national team, reminded his colleague that managing a team is easier said than done.
“Yes, he will be in a chaos now, That’s the job [as a coach],” Gattuso told Sky Italia after Napoli were overthrown by Barcelona in the Champions League last Saturday.
“He is lucky to be the coach of Juventus, but being a great player is not enough for this profession,” explained Gattuso.
“You have to study, work hard and you shouldn’t sleep much,” he stressed.
Gattuso first coached at FC Sion, then the 42-year-old coach continued his managerial adventures at Palermo, OFI Crete and Pisa before taking over the Milan youth team in 2017.
He was promoted to take charge of the Rossoneri first team after the club sacked Vincenzo Montella a year later. However he was dismissed at the end of the 2018/19 campaign after the team finished fifth before replacing Carlo Ancelotti at Napoli, who he led to the Coppa Italia win this season.
“Being a player and being a coach are really not the same,” said Gattuso.
“This is a completely different profession and we can’t just learn from books, we need to be involved in it and work hard. It’s a different world,” he added.