Trainer legend in the TM interview
© Imago
The Italian trainer legend Roberto Mancini has been without a club since autumn last year. The former national coach of Italy and European champion of 2021 takes time for exclusive insights into his extraordinary career in the transfer market interview and, among other things, speaks about the development of modern football and its effects on the transfer market.
Transfer market: Although you have not trained a club since 2018, you are still among the coaches with the most expensive transfers of the 21st century in the transfer market database. Give us an insight, what does it matter when recruiting?
Roberto Mancini: As a trainer, you have to weigh the players who fit the sporting project with the financial investment that every player represents for the club. Players are an investment and therefore have to drop a return on both the field and in the balance sheet. Every club works differently. I am used to vetos and final decisions by the club owner or sports director.
Transfer market: Which of your transfers made was the best deal for your team and the club?
Mancini: Certainly Sergio Agüero, his goal record in the Premier League was extraordinary (Note d. Ed.: 184 hits in 275 games for Manchester City).
Transfer market: How do you assess the development of the transfer sums?
Mancini: I pursue the development of all aspects of business with great interest. Running amounts reflect the general economic situation, the forecasts of TV rights and the rotation in the different leagues. The transfer market has developed into a central scale over the years. Creative structures and the commercial impact of an athlete can of course influence the final amount of the transfer sum in addition to the purely sporty aspect.
Transfer market: Some of the highest transfer fees have been paid in Saudi Arabia since 2023. You have been a national coach for over a year, how do you judge the development of the league?
Mancini: The Saudi Pro League has moved into the spotlight due to the commitment of some of the best players in the world. However, this is not always the best way to promote a league. Many other aspects have to be taken into account, such as examples, the intrinsic motivation of the players who change there, the influence on the youth academy of clubs and relationships with fans. The example of the Chinese Super League provides us with important knowledge. Despite high investments, this has not yet developed as hoped, especially after the introduction of various taxes and restrictions on the recruitment of foreign players.
Let us take France, which has one of the best youth academies: there the national team is in the strength that it has today when most of her players played in series A and the Premier League.
Transfer market: As national coach Saudi Arabia, have you noticed a performance increase by the Saudi players because you are now playing alongside stars from Europe, Africa and South America?
Mancini: The fact that young players train with experienced players is a positive aspect of the Saudi Pro League, but the most important thing in the long term for a national league and the national team are the structures in the offspring, the youth academies and corresponding funding programs. You have to produce young talents every year that are used regularly. Then these players have to play in the big European leagues. This is the only way to increase the level of a national team and a league. Let us take France, which has one of the best youth academies: there the national team is in the strength that it has today when most of her players played in series A and the Premier League. The players and the national team benefited from experience, the mentality and the bite they acquired there, all attributes that make up a successful team.
Mancini’s focus: “Football with their own offensive identity”
Transfer market: You won the championship title three times with Inter, with Manchester City after over 40 years of waiting, got the first title and became European champion with Italy. What was the strongest team you trained? And which one has best implemented your football idea?
Mancini: You cannot win if talent, physical strength and cohesion are not right. These three teams had everything in the right relationship. Talented players who worked hard and formed a fantastic group with a uniform will to win. My teams have always taken care of playing football with their own offensive identity and having fun to convey emotions to fans.
Roberto Mancini led Italy to the European Championship title.
Transfer market: Which league did you like to work in?
Mancini: Every league is something special. I really enjoyed the Premier League and the years I spent in Great Britain. Every trainer dreams of coaching the Premier League. Apart from that, I really appreciate the experiences that I have gained in Turkey, Russia and Saudi Arabia. In today’s football you have to gain experiences with different cultures, traditions and mentalities and combine everything you have learned from all of these countries in order to cope with the different nationalities in the changing room.
Transfer market: In the Premier League there are only three trainers with a better point average than you: Guardiola, Ferguson and Klopp. Would a return to England be attractive for you?
Mancini: At any time!
Mancini about winning the title with Man City: “One of the most intense moments”
Transfer market: How important is the Premier League title for you on the last matchday 2012?
Mancini: It was one of the most beautiful and intense moments of my athlete career. The incredible intensity that this league holds every weekend culminated in this title.
Transfer market: To what extent do you feel jointly responsible for Manchester City’s many years of dominance in English football after signing a number of players who later became big stars under Pep Guardiola?
Mancini: We implemented a long-term plan and started a success series that Guardiola continued greatly and ultimately reached the goal of Champions League title 2023.
Transfer market: How do you assess the change of your former protégé Vincent Kompany to the coaching office? Did you give him advice?
Mancini: When he played with me, he was still too young to think of a trainer career. But his step does not surprise me because he was a leader on the pitch. I wish him continued success in Munich, in this elite environment.
Transfer market: Did you have offers as a trainer in England after the European Championship win with Italy 2021?
Mancini: Yes, but my commitment to Italy made it impossible to accept it.
Transfer market: You left Galatasaray early in 2014 without requesting a severance payment – a rare gesture in modern football. What prompted you to make this decision?
Mancini: Football is a passion, I live for my passion. Of course it is also work, but the financial aspect is not what drives me.
Transfer market: How would you describe your experience in Turkish football in general and in retrospect?
Mancini: I loved my time in Turkish football because he was driven by pure passion.
Transfer market: How much do you miss the series A?
Mancini: I totally miss it to be a coach. Series A is my home league, but I would like to gain new experience and concentrate on other leagues.
Transfer market: How do you rate the current level of Italian football?
Mancini: Italian football has to invest more in the youth academy and promote the offspring in order to produce players at the international level and to keep the current level of the national and youth national teams.
Series A experiences a radical mentality and structural change.
Transfer market: In the past three years, Italian clubs have often reached international end games, but there is a general opinion that Italian football is in a permanent crisis – unable to generate profit or talent, renew themselves and to compete with leagues such as the Premier League and Laliga. Where do you think this perception comes from?
Mancini: Series A experiences a radical mentality and structural change. It is the end of the patril’s era that invested in their teams out of love and passion. Football is an international business today and the owner structure of the Serie-A teams reflects this. To be successful, you need the fans, the press and everything that goes with it to understand this fundamental change and adjust to it.
Transfer market: Allegri, Klopp, Ancelotti … Some long trainer cycles have recently ended and several top clubs have changed their head coach. Is that a natural transition or has it become more difficult in modern football to stay long -term as a trainer?
Mancini: A little bit of both. For long cycles you need a good balance and the perfect mix of communication, vision and focus between trainer, owner and management. It is also crucial – and here I speak for myself – the people with whom you surround each other regularly to rethink. Sometimes the staff has to develop and adapt to new circumstances and important methodological developments.
Transfer market: Which characteristics are essential for the instructions of a top team in view of your experience at the highest level?
Mancini: Work morality, international experience in different cultures, a professional staff that uses new technologies in the analysis and, above all,: to do it better every day with the same passion and will to do it better than yesterday. It is crucial to hold the team together across a long cycle.
The transfer market interview led: Thomas Deterding, Stefan Bienkowski, Sinan Yener and Aniello Luciano