“Sampdoria? Like being in A. And my middle name is Fortunato»- Corriere.it

Andrea Pirlo is the first Radrizzani-Manfredi coach of Sampdoria. After yesterday’s signing of the biennial, today’s afternoon there was the official presentation which also coincided with the first public outing of Radrizzani and Mandredi.

We have done a lot in five weeks, saving Sampdoria from the risk of bankruptcy that would have killed half the city – Radrizzani began -. But it’s only the beginning, and now we can finally talk about football. Andrea Pirlo and Nicola Legrottaglie will be coach and manager of the technical area. We have inherited a company with several difficult situations and are busy restructuring a company that has been poorly managed in recent years. We want to set medium-long term goals, bringing the company back to give emotions, joy. The choice of coach goes in this direction. We have to revive the situations experienced by Sampdoria in the 90s. We want to go back to that, on and off the pitch. We will be very active in social work and in modernizing the club». Then Manfredi: «Ours is a plan that provides for financial and football sustainability. Genoa is wonderful and we will respect its history, the club belongs to the fans».

And here is Pirlo: «First of all, I would like to thank the owners for this great opportunity. Coaching Sampdoria is like coaching in Serie A, I haven’t looked at the category. I really want to start over and luckily we managed to save a historic society. I remember the golden Sampdoria of the 90s, and playing for Marassi was always a pleasure. I can not wait to start. My first match as a coach was against Sampdoria: I’ll start from here. Even though it was my first year, I achieved my goals. Türkiye? An experience that has served me a lot in a public company. There weren’t great assumptions but we did a great job. It helped me grow as a coach. Now I am more experienced and aware, even of mistakes. Quagliarella is a friend, I also saw him this winter in Turkey and we have excellent relations but I don’t know his future, it is up to the club to decide. Leaving from Juve wasn’t my goal, it was fortunate but it hastened everything. I accepted Turkey precisely to be able to leave again. Sampdoria is a great opportunity because they are a great team, things can be done well. We’ll leave in a few days, we’re a little behind, Serie B is different but we’ll always give our best to try and get as high as possible. Now the team needs to be created, recently saved. We must be realistic without telling dreams. We will start again from a project that is sustainable over time for society. It didn’t take much to convince me, I met the president even before the acquisition. There was no need for so many words. I want to get as high as possible and as fast as possible. And my middle name is ‘Lucky’…».

Finally, Legrottaglie’s first words as a Sampdoria player: «I am enthusiastic and highly motivated. It will be a beautiful adventure, with an important and forward-looking planning. I will manage the technical area, my expertise in 22 years of this job. When it was offered to me, I immediately said yes. We believe in Pirlo a lot, we have chased him for a long time. There were other profiles but we wanted him. We want to be humble, recognize strengths and weaknesses. We are convinced that we are doing well what we have set out to do and what the club has asked of us. Andrea marries our identity as a game, system, players and profiles. We will look for a football that convinces people to love it. The project is not based on the talent of one, but on the sacrifice of all. Andrea and I have already won a Scudetto at Milan, we hope to repeat ourselves here».