‘Excellent coach’ urged to ditch Manchester United links and ‘do like Xabi Alonso’

The last time Bologna plied their trade in Europe’s premier club competition, Goldfinger sold out, The Animals topped the charts with House of the Rising Sun, and Bobby Charlton, Dennis Law and George Best fired Matt Busby’s Manchester United side to the First Division title.

It took 60 years, but Bologna is back. A win at Napoli, despite an injury to star striker Joshua Zirkzee, is the result of Thiago Motta’s work.

And having contemplated such a remarkable transformation, who were walking on molasses when he was appointed in 2022, the question facing Motta is whether he remains to write another chapter in this remarkable success story.

Manchester United as Thiago Motta

According to The Telegraph, the former Barcelona, ​​Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain player is admired by Ineos, displaying the same freshness and intelligence in the dugout as he does on the pitch.

But for Massimo Orlando, Motta should take a leaf out of Xabi Alonso’s book and remember that the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere.

“I think he’s an excellent coach,” former Milan, Fiorentina and Juventus midfielder Orlando told Tuttomercatoweb, with Motta reportedly high on the list for one of his old employers.

“I think it would be a huge coup for Juve. For Motta, I don’t know. For me, he is also thinking about staying in Bologna. It is true that Juve is a new project, but if the ownership with (Bologna boss Giovanni) Sartori pleases him, he can do like Xabi Alonso.

“I see him very happy. I don’t think he’s afraid to face the Juve way, but he can understand that it’s not the time yet. And staying at Bologna would be a great move. (Staying would be more) intelligent.”

Erik ten Hag faces an uncertain future under Ineos

Motta, like Brighton boss Roberto de Zerbi, is part of a new generation of Italian coaches. Instead Catenaccio, Italian football gives rise to a more free-flowing approach, inspired by Guardiola.

Motta’s high-pressing, possession-heavy style will surely appeal to Ineos, who are keen to inject a proactive and dominant streak into a Man United side that spent much of his dreadful second season Erik ten Hag chasing shadows.

“He’s doing fantastic,” Wesley Sneijder, who was also part of Jose Mourinho’s winning Inter side in 2010, tells RTL7 about Motta.

“I played with him. He was an underrated player. As a player, he could already read the game and set the lines. Now he’s doing it again as a coach.”

Similar topics