David Beckham wants former AC Milan team-mate Gennaro Gattuso to be Inter Miami’s first manager
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FORMER AC Milan coach and hardman Gennaro Gattuso has emerged as favourite to take charge of David Beckham's new Inter Miami side.
The newly-launched MLS club are looking for an experienced coach to become their first manager.
Former Italy midfielder Gattuso was known as a tough-tackling bruiser in his heyday.
He resigned as AC chief in May, is the leading candidate, according to Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Gattuso, 41, has held talks with former Milan team-mate Beckham about the job.
Beckham and Gattuso played alongside each other at Milan in 2009-10.
Gattuso, who had been linked with the Newcastle job, took the reins at the San Siro in 2017 after spells at Pisa and Palermo.
Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas said last week that the team was “very close” to naming its first head coach, and that it would be “someone you’re going to know who has coached before at the highest level and who has played at the highest level.”
Gattuso took over Milan in 2017 after coaching the club’s U19 team.
The former Rangers star steered the team to fifth place last term just missing out on qualification for the Champions League.
He had two years left on his contract but wanted a fresh challenge.
He said: "Mine is a painful but thoughtful choice. Am I giving up a two-year contract? Yes, because my story with Milan can never be a question of money.”
“Deciding to leave Milan’s bench is not easy but it’s a decision I had to make.
"There was not a precise moment in which I decided, it was the sum of these 18 months as coach of a team that for me will never be like the others. Months that I lived with great passion, unforgettable months."
Miami want their new coach in place this year.
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