Massimo Moratti reveals he almost signed Eric Cantona and Francesco Totti, plus how Roberto Mancini got the Inter job.
The former President spoke to Sport Mediaset Premium today about his two decades at the helm and was asked who he wanted to have in his squad.
“The first is Eric Cantona. We’d have started winning earlier with him, as Cantona would change everything.
Massimo Moratti reveals he almost signed Eric Cantona and Francesco Totti, plus how Roberto Mancini got the Inter job.
The former President spoke to Sport Mediaset Premium today about his two decades at the helm and was asked who he wanted to have in his squad.
“The first is Eric Cantona. We’d have started winning earlier with him, as Cantona would change everything.
“I was at the stadium when Cantona kicked that fan and I said to myself negotiations would be useful, as maybe Manchester United would’ve released him after that gesture.
“We were about to sign him and then, because of a misunderstanding with someone, he didn’t come.
“Then there’s Totti. We had the chance to negotiate for him because his contract was running down, but truth be told Roma would never have let him go.
“I tried to sign Roberto Mancini from Sampdoria, but President Paolo Mantovani considered him like a son and almost started crying when he thought about letting him go.
“Then one day Mancini sent me an Inter jersey with a Scudetto badge stitched on to it. He wrote that if one day I thought of him, we’d win.
“I was very impressed and a little later on I hired him as a Coach.”
Massimo’s father Angelo was President of Inter in the 1960s, winning the European Cup, so could there be a third generation of the family in charge at some stage?
“When my father was President, I didn’t remotely think about succeeding him. You can never say never in life. I don’t think my children are thinking about it now, but what happened to me could happen to anyone.
“I don’t even know if I’d wish they take over. Being President of a football club is an experience I’d describe as complete, but very complex.”