‘It’s what I did at Leeds’ Radrizzani explains his view on future of Sampdoria

New Sampdoria owner Andrea Radrizzani says he wants to respect the club’s glorious past with an ‘innovative view’ and explains why he picked Andrea Pirlo as the new coach.

The ex-midfielder has signed a two-year deal at the Stadio Ferraris and was unveiled on Wednesday alongside the new head of performance Nicola Legrottaglie.

Radrizzani joined them during a press conference.

“We managed to save Sampdoria from bankruptcy which would have killed half of the city of Genoa,” he said.

“This is just the beginning, now we must talk about football. We are here to present the first steps of our projects, who are [coach] Andrea Pirlo and Nicola Legrottaglie, our head of performance.

“I’d like to explain our targets. We are still facing a few issues,” Radrizzani continued.

“We bought a club with many difficult situations. We are committed from day to night to restructuring a company which was poorly managed.

“We want to have medium and long-term targets. I think of the Sampdoria of the 90s that gave emotion and joy to fans. That’s why we picked a coach that wants to keep possession and has a defined identity. There are characteristics of the Samp of the 90s that want to bring back.

“Samp are one of the most represented and loved teams in the world. We want to return to that era [the 90s] with respect and style and remember the glorious past with an innovative view. That’s what I did at Leeds in the last six years and it’s what I want to do here.”

Radrizzani bought Sampdoria from Massimo Ferrero in May, effectively saving the Blucerchiati from bankruptcy. However, the team had been relegated to Serie B and are likely to start the new season with a four-point penalty due to financial irregularities made during the previous management.

After buying Samp, the Italian businessman completed the sale of Leeds United to American franchise 49ers Enterprises.

Pirlo has returned to Italy after a one-year spell in Turkey at Karagumruk. This will be his second stint as a coach in the Peninsula after taking charge of Juventus in 2020-21 when he won the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa.