Monchi, former sporting director of Sevilla when Julen Lopetegui was there, suggests Milan should focus on the 57-year-old Basque coach
Monchiformer sporting director of Rome today atAston VillaIn the 2019when he returned to Sevillehe chose Julen Lopetegui as coach of the Andalusians: today he spoke exclusively, to ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport‘, of the technician who the Milan he would choose as a successor to Stefano Pioli. Here, then, are his statements.
Milan, Monchi talks about Lopetegui exclusively to the ‘rosea’
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On your assessment of Lopetegui: «For me, Julen has three virtues that I consider fundamental for any coach: great professional qualities, competitiveness, group management. When I started talking to him about taking him to Sevilla it was something he felt immediately, and certain qualities are not lost over time, on the contrary, they are consolidated with experience. Then when we started working on building the team, that Sevilla needed a radical change in terms of men, the virtues that I had visualized in the first conversations materialized in everyday life, between training and matches, and led to the achievement of the objectives established”.
On the possibility that he adapts well to Milan: “Yes. He won’t have any problems because he is used to working in big teams, and therefore in situations of great pressure and demands. I think of Porto, Real Madrid, the Spanish national team, Sevilla, situations in which expectations are daily bread. This is why I am convinced that Julen is a perfect candidate to take on the ever-present need in a club like Milan, one of the greats in Europe.”
On Lopetegui’s possible adaptation to Serie A: “The same. First of all, football is becoming more globalized every day. In the Italian one, the tactical aspect is historically of great importance and Julen is a coach who works very well from this point of view and who has great playing options at both an offensive and defensive level. I think he can adapt perfectly.”
