Inter confirm Stramaccioni as coach
Reuters - Tuesday 29 May 2012, 20:34
Andrea Stramaccioni signed a three-year
contract to become Inter Milan's permanent coach on Tuesday
after impressing president Massimo Moratti during his temporary
spell in charge.
The 36-year-old, promoted from the youth team in March to
replace the sacked Claudio Ranieri, oversaw a mini-revival at
the 2010 European Champions but they still missed out on
Champions League football by finishing sixth in Serie A.
Moratti has long admired former Barcelona coach Pep
Guardiola but with the Spaniard taking time out of the game to
recharge his batteries, Stramaccioni has been rewarded for his
youthful exuberance.
"Yes, his contract was renewed earlier for three years,"
Moratti told reporters.
Stramaccioni had no previous top-flight managerial
experience. A former Bologna player whose career was halted
early by injury, he had only been Inter's youth coach for less
than a year having joined from a similar role at AS Roma.
Inter's troubles last term were blamed by many pundits on
their ageing team who were a pale shadow of the treble-winning
outfit of 2010.
Moratti hopes Stramaccioni can blood some of the Inter youth
squad, who won the Under-21 Next Gen European Championships in
March, in the first team.
Inter are also recruiting from outside with Genoa forward
Rodrigo Palacio on his way to the San Siro and Napoli striker
Ezequiel Lavezzi a target.
"We said that we'd be in touch, but neither of us has been
able to as we've both been busy," Moratti said when asked if he
had spoken with Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis about the
Argentine.
Moratti also reckoned Italy's latest match-fixing and
betting scandal, where players have been arrested and Juventus
coach Antonio Conte has been put under investigation, was less
severe than the 2006 scandal in which referees were involved.
"It depends on how you see things, they're both unpleasant.
The 2006 one came from high ranking officials and in my mind was
even worse," he said.