Gennaro Gattuso held his presentation press conference as coach of Valencia, denying he is a puppet of agent Jorge Mendes and assuring it was his ‘choice’ not to work after the Fiorentina row. ‘It’s your problem, not mine.’
The former Milan and Napoli tactician has signed a two-year contract with the Liga club, despite some protests from fans and former players at comments he made in the past that were considered sexist, racist or homophobic.
Some of the complaints were also based on his rapport with agent Mendes, which is what caused Fiorentina to terminate his contract by mutual consent just two weeks into their rapport last summer.
“I started my coaching career eight years ago and I have never signed a Jorge Mendes player,” insisted Gattuso.
“I’ve been in football for 27 years. I have incredible respect for Mendes, he is a great football man and a friend, but at Milan and Napoli, I never did deals for his players.
“If being friends with Jorge Mendes and respecting him is a problem, then perhaps the problem is yours, not mine. He wasn’t even the first person I called when I heard about Valencia’s interest.
“Having said that, if he has players who are functional and can help me and Valencia, then we can negotiate. We need strong players.”
Although the contract was signed last night, Gattuso sealed the deal when meeting with patron Peter Lim and Mendes in Singapore.
“I left Milan on May 29 to go to Singapore with Anil Murthy, then the day after this news emerged that he had resigned. I did not travel with Jorge Mendes, I met him there the day after.
“I spoke to Lim for two days about all sorts of things, he knows it is a problem if Soler, Guedes and Gaya were to leave and the solutions we’d need to find to replace them. We need five or six reinforcements on the transfer market.”
Gattuso famously broke with Fiorentina just two weeks into pre-season, so could’ve been open to accepting another Serie A role, but chose to take time off.
“That was my choice, because I didn’t have the right hunger. I spoke to seven or eight teams before Valencia, but I am here because I know it is a big club.
“I was one of the first Italian players to go and play in Britain in 17 years, I accepted difficult challenges as a World Cup winning player, working at FC Sion or Crete. Valencia are at the same level as Napoli and Milan, great clubs who struggled a little recently.”
People still remember Gattuso as the player for Milan, that ‘Ringhio’ who would nip at ankles and fly into the tackle, but he assures that’s not what he’s looking for as a coach.
“When I was a player, I was all industry and sweat, but now I see football in a different way. I want my players to think, move the ball around and make good choices.”
🤚🏽 Palabra de 𝐆𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐮𝐬𝐨:
🎙️ “Queremos 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘇𝗮𝗿 𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗱𝗼 𝗱𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮: recordar lo que hemos sido, una camiseta llena de 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮 que hay que 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿❞
🔴🎥 https://t.co/6cq1WiLfMe#BenvingutGattuso#ADNVCF 🦇 #ElCORdelVCF
— Valencia CF (@valenciacf) June 9, 2022
Looking sharp Rino!!! Go do your thing in Spain & best of luck.