Zdenek Zeman believes Roma are making a mistake by hiring director of sport Monchi and approaching Unai Emery. “They need someone with Italian experience.”
The Pescara Coach will face his former club on Monday evening and still keeps an eye on the Giallorossi’s progress.
Ex-Sevilla director of sport Monchi will be appointed next week and there are reports he’ll try to bring in current Paris Saint-Germain Coach Emery.
Zdenek Zeman believes Roma are making a mistake by hiring director of sport Monchi and approaching Unai Emery. “They need someone with Italian experience.”
The Pescara Coach will face his former club on Monday evening and still keeps an eye on the Giallorossi’s progress.
Ex-Sevilla director of sport Monchi will be appointed next week and there are reports he’ll try to bring in current Paris Saint-Germain Coach Emery.
“I do not agree with these decisions,” Zeman told the Corriere dello Sport newspaper.
“Football in Italy needs to be done by people who have experienced calcio and this very specific way of playing football. Emery got important results with Sevilla, but there are Coaches who do better in certain contexts. Spanish football is different to in Italy, we’d have to see if he could adapt or made the squad adapt to his ideas.
“Economics are very important in football now. Money isn’t everything, but it is important if you know how to use it. What really counts is having a club with capable directors and a solid organisation. Without that, money is worthless.
“If that hadn’t been the case, then English clubs should’ve won everything, seeing as they have more money than any other league, but instead they haven’t won for years and keep European clubs afloat by paying inflated prices for their players.”
Zeman is no particular fan of the foreign influence at Roma behind the scenes, either.
“I remember little or nothing about (President James) Pallotta. We met a couple of times, never alone, because I don’t speak English and he doesn’t speak Italian.
“The President is in America, the directors in Rome, Franco Baldini in London. A team needs to have the staff close by.
“Juventus win because they have the organisation and structure that allows them to maintain their best players, and if one does leave, they can replace him with someone even better. Other clubs need to sell and therefore cannot build a project.
“It’s difficult for Roma to compete and win if they don’t get the chance to keep and work with their best players. Juve have had a core of 10 players for the last five years. The only ones at Roma after five years are Francesco Totti – who is no longer at his best – Alessandro Florenzi and Daniele De Rossi.”