Carlo Mazzone, who coached the Spaniard at Brescia towards the end of his playing career, wishes him well at Manchester City but hopes that he will bring his skills to Serie A
Serie A is badly missing the leadership that Manchester City-bound Pep Guardiola could offer it, says Carlo Mazzone, who coached the current Bayern Munich boss during his playing days at Brescia.
Guardiola's impending summer switch to the Etihad Stadium from the German giants was confirmed on Monday and Mazzone expects him to continue his enormous success in the Premier League.
The 74-year-old, however, would dearly love to see his old friend try his hand at coaching in Italy, where the biggest clubs have struggled to make sustained impact on European competition in recent years.
"I hope he does well in the Premier League," Mazzone told Goal of Guardiola. "I know him well and I think he will do the right things.
"[Could he coach in Italy? That's a] complex question. I haven't spoken with him for a long time and I wouldn't like to get him in trouble but I would like to send him a message through the media: 'Pep, you must come to Italy because we need to build good victories as you used to do!'
"Roma? That would be the biggest gift I could ever have; I wouldn't like to be disrespectful to the current Roma coach but everyone knows my friendship [with Pep]. You must come to Roma, OK!"
- Goal