For the fifth consecutive year il transfer market opens at the Grand Hotel in Rimini, thanks to the organization of Master Group Sport, ADiSe and the Emilia-Romagna Region. The insiders met at 6 pm for an aperitif. At 8:10 pm the start of “Colpi da maestro”, the talk show.
Pantaleo Corvino, head of the technical area of Lecce. “I see many people of my generation, we are part of a different football than the current one. We started with telephone tokens. Now everything is in real time, it is all media. If we are here it means that we have evolved too, and if we can have our say I can say that we have done it well. Everything changes, everything changes, but the human factor must remain the most important. Woe betide if everything was tied to algorithms and you didn’t touch the skin with your hand. Maybe there is a lack of structures, people capable of creating coaches. We must take responsibility for ourselves without trying to blame others. We try to be a model in our name. We cannot feel guilty because there are many foreigners in our Primavera. We were world and European champions with the current rules. We must not try to make others responsible. I started to be a sports director at 25, I started from the Third category and arrived at the Champions League. I know the dynamics of the Dilettanti. I can bring my experiences, but if I am not called I cannot call them. There are no territorial training centers, there is only Coverciano. Football is made of cycles: before there were champions, now there are not, but it is not the fault of the players or the clubs”.
Tony D’Amico, Atalanta sporting director: “There is certainly an evolution in football every year, let’s hope it is positive. We are lucky to start in Verona, today I am at Atalanta, but the principles are the same. Today compared to four years ago the dynamics have changed. Today, rather than thinking about strong players, we talk about young people. I think that the player must be strong at any age. Today the market leads us to choose young people due to the marketability of the players, who sometimes are not ready or are not as strong as those of a wider age group. Our interlocutors change, owners arrive from abroad, accustomed to algorithms, but this must be a starting point. The team is a state of mind, positive or negative results can make the players perform more or less. I think managing the state of mind of the coach and the players is our job”.
Piero Ausilio, Inter sporting director. “Even though I am from a different generation than Leo. I felt the desire to be a sporting director thinking about these figures. They are still contemporary, current, with experience you can still be modern and you can bring home results. When I started I was lucky enough to have had a path, I did it all in a big company. I started as secretary of the youth sector, I had my opportunities and I took advantage of them. When I didn’t have responsibilities I traveled a lot. The difference is that now compared to before we have more tools available. We use algorithms, we have match analysts, all these platforms, data, numbers, but you can see the sensations that a player gives you by following a match live. Then we try to put something of our own into it during the season too. The role of the DS cannot only be considered in those three months, if we also say January, but there is also the relationship with the players and the coach. If you have a season like Inter’s this year, it’s easier, those who play are happy, those who don’t play accept it more calmly. In periods when things aren’t going well, you have to talk to the coach, understand the player who needs extra motivation.”
How central is a coach during the transfer market? “The coach-director relationship is always important – Corvino replies -. The fortunes of a director are in the skill of the coach and vice versa, they are communicating. My fortunes depend on the coach’s choice and the coach’s choice to have a director who knows how to support him, nurture him, motivate him, pull his ears when he has to do it”.
D’Amico: “The coach is fundamental for us. The relationship with the coach is fantastic, I am lucky to be able to work with him. I think it is fundamental because if you have the right coach to enforce the rules and give the right principles to the public, our job is easier”.
Will Inzaghi get a renewal? “I think Simone Inzaghi’s renewal is a natural progression. He deserved it. A coach needs to feel protected, safeguarded. Not that this can’t happen for a year. The coach is responsible for the team and needs a club that makes him feel strong. It’s the most strategic role.”
The sports director-president relationship. How much do presidents have a say in negotiations? “Ours is a somewhat particular situation. The sports area was already identified with this structure. In terms of operations, with Marotta’s move to president, nothing has changed. For us, everything was much easier because having a CEO who is president is a facilitated situation. There is always a lot of talk about sustainability, but also technique because you have to win matches”.
A move that Corvino envies Ausilio? “I had an Argentine striker in Florence, the same agent told me that he had the release clause for Lautaro Martinez, Piero did it and I envied him because I understood that he would be a great striker”.
A move that Ausilio envies Corvino? “I’m Vlaovic for sure. I remember Vucinic as a great move for Corvino’s Lecce”.
Corvino: “I’m sorry that I am remembered for these foreign moves, but Corvino also valorized many Italian players, from Miccoli to Casarano, from Pellè to Chiesa.
I don’t think it’s the policies of the clubs that influence Italian football, but the federal policies that influence those of the clubs. Football should be considered globalized. If we are convinced that the problem is foreigners, we have understood nothing”.
Beppe Marotta, president of Inter: “I am proud to be here. The sports director is the first position after the president. In the 1970s, he was a former footballer, but it was a football modeled differently. Back then, the goal was to get results, then think about balancing the budget. It was the era of patrons. Today, everything has changed, we talked about sustainability, which goes hand in hand with algorithms, with artificial intelligence, which we must refer to because today the main thing is to make the clubs survive. Lombardy today has five teams in Serie A, four of which are foreign. This means that entrepreneurship is no longer able to support sports. This is the first big problem to solve. Today, the role of the sports director is as important as that of the coach. As president of the category, I am sorry for this, but I am happy to reward. Today, it is yet another transfer market that opens. I hope it is fun, creative, it is in their heads to create dynamics. Today, we are not able to create a system, because there are too many personalisms, all the discomfort passes through there. If there is no harmony, nothing can be resolved. The first thing is that football talent comes from the less well-off classes. Today, to play sports you have to pay. Those talents no longer approach sports disciplines. So we lose talent. The structures are still the same dilapidated ones of 30 years ago, not to mention the stadiums, which are the oldest in Europe. We don’t have talent because sport is not free, it must be free. I believe that at least in the adolescent age groups one should be left free to play”.
Ausilio: “Rows must not be too large, otherwise problems will arise. Today the numbers say that the team is fine as it is, there are also some surplus players due to the return of loans. We will complete the roster with this goalkeeper”.
Matteo Marani, president of LegaPro. “We need to change the method and also talk about culture. I hope that many young people, qualified, competent, with passion, will soon enter the world of football. This year Cesena has made a promotion with four boys from its youth team. The most beautiful thing are the four shirts that Cesena fans are dropping. That was the meaning of Italian football and that must return to being Italian football”.
Stefano Bonaccini, outgoing president of the Emilia-Romagna Region: “Either sports education becomes a moment in school or we won’t get very far. There is an agency called “Sport e Salute” that has funded an extra hour of physical education. I hope that that path can be taken. I wouldn’t wish an earthquake, a pandemic and a flood on my worst enemy, but I am lucky to have been president of a region like Emilia-Romagna. When someone falls, they get up and before starting to run again, they look to see if there is anyone left behind to help”.
