Juventus have won seventeen of their last eighteen games in all competitions. They are only two points behind Serie A leaders Napoli, who they play on Saturday. They are through to the last sixteen in the Champion’s League, where they will play Bayern Munich and they are in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, where they will play Inter Milan.
Massimiliano Allegri is an Italian, born in Livorno and enjoying great success in his home country.
If reports are to be believed then Roman Abramovich would like Allegri to give up all he has worked for in the last couple of years to go and manage, what is currently, a mid-table team under-achieving on an almost weekly basis.
To contest the Champion’s League next season Chelsea will need to win it this one! Other than the “challenge” of managing in the Premier League and a pay rise what can Abramovich offer to Allegri to motivate him to leave a very comfortable comfort zone?
Unless Allegri wants to test himself in a league where there is, generally, more competition than anywhere else in Europe, and maybe learn English, then this is a move which does not make any sense.
At present he is not commenting because, as he says, there is nothing to comment on. Nothing has been offered and nothing has been asked. The press, as usual, have managed to get hold of what they think is a story, but may not be and anyway it doesn’t really matter if a few copies are sold through misleading headlines, it happens everyday, right?
As Allegri has said, he cannot confirm or deny something that does not exist although, I would have thought that he could confirm or deny any interest he may or may not have in leaving Juventus. It would certainly keep the fans informed one way or another.
The other attraction that Chelsea may hold is that Italian managers in general have done pretty well there. They haven’t lasted a particularly long time, but still, you can’t have everything. Remember, to please Roman Abramovich it helps if you can win at least the double every year, preferably more and, even then, there are no guarantees!
Claudio Ranieri, for example, can take some of the credit for where Chelsea have been for the last few years. He bought Frank Lampard and, shortly before leaving, identified Didier Drogba and Arjen Robben as “players of interest”.
His best finish was second to the unbeaten Arsenal team and this marked the beginning of their reasonably successful runs in the Champion’s League.
Another manager who has prospered at Stamford Bridge is Carlo Ancelotti. He won trophies and became the first Italian manager to win the Premier League whilst in charge of Chelsea. There are still a lot of Chelsea supporters who feel that Ancelotti was unfairly treated by the club when he was fired.
Both of the aforementioned managers had followed yet another Italian in Gianluca Vialli so there is certainly a history for that particular nationality at Stamford Bridge.
I still come back to the question; Why? Why would any sane man want to leave his home country to go and work for a very rich Russian in a country with a foreign language, doing a job which is unlikely to last more than a couple of years even if he is successful? To top up the bank-balance? I doubt he needs to do that.
When all said and done, the answer is surprisingly simple; Massimiliano Allegri is a football manager. And there you have it!
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 