Paolo Di Canio has revealed that he rejected an offer to join Roberto Mancini’s Saudi Arabia coaching staff in a senior role, although admits that he was flattered by the brief courtship.
Di Canio, who recently gave an interview to La Stampa, published on Tuesday morning, said that he was offered a position as one of Mancini’s deputies in a move that would have seen him take a hands-on role on the training pitch.
And, while partly a moral decision, Di Canio claims that there were also other reasons behind his decision not to move over to the Middle East.
“I didn’t just say no to oil money, because it would have been an important experience in an environment that wants to grow and establish itself, like I do myself. Roberto Mancini didn’t offer me a minor role, he wanted me as a second coach on the pitch to train and improve the players,” Di Canio said in his interview.
He continued: “His courtship made me proud, especially given that we aren’t particularly close: a few games of padel, a chat and not a lot more, so if he thought about me, it’s because he believes in my ideas and my work.”
Despite turning down the offer, Di Canio still speaks very highly of Mancini: “I want to thank him, it wasn’t easy to decide, I contemplated it for a long time, and in the end I chose to follow my heart.”
Di Canio had spent two years in club management in England with Swindon Town and Sunderland, but has now not taken to the dugout in over a decade, leaving the Tynesiders in September 2013.