ROMA. Fourteen months of golden adventure, and then the stormy end. The Arabian Nights adventure has already ended Roberto Mancini in Riyadh. Welcomed like a sheik, between honors and contractual terms, the Italian coach who in mid-August last year had clearly severed his relationship with the blue, and then sat down after a few days on the Arabia bench, bids farewell to Riad and the dreams of glory of Saudi football.
“The football federation and coach Roberto Mancini have reached out an agreement that provides for the end of the contractual relationship“. No indication of the amount of the divorce, the confidentiality of the royal house had also silenced those of the agreement to tear Mancini away from European football: but 24 million for four seasons they were the never-denied mountain of petrodollars that had made the technician from Jesi smile. Who is now free again for European club football, even if the divorce from Italy 14 months ago has not left peaceful consequences, at least in his country of origin.
On the other hand, it is not the first time that Mancini ends his technical adventures in a stormy manner. The first time he resigned as Fiorentina coach on the 17th matchday was in 2002, with tense relations with the fans. Then in 2008 he was sacked by the winning Inter, with Moratti enraged by his statements after a match with Liverpool (“I don’t know if I’ll be here in two months”).
There was a release clause with Galatasaray (2014), a termination with Zenit (2017), immediately before his international adventure. However, with the one in Riyadh it didn’t go as well as the first Italian phase. Mancini had seven wins, six losses and five draws with the Green Falcons. Sources from the federation have made it known that the negotiations for the resolution, in a difficult situation due to the economic weight of the salary and the recriminations of the Italian coach over alleged technical promises not kept, had already begun after the defeat against Japan at home, followed by a draw with Bahrain.
The last two results revealed how high the tension was between Mancini and the entire environment. On the other hand, Mancini’s intolerance had already emerged from his choice not to call up, a few months ago, three players who claimed to be starters. “Never seen something like this,” said Mancini, making the clash public. More than a thousand and one nights. And then the conflicts with local journalists in the latest conferences, a sign of growing nervousness. “The players must take responsibility”, he thundered, later arguing with a journalist who had made technical findings. Now the Riyadh federation, which in its choice to pay a substantial fee to move on would have the imprimatur of the Royal house, says that shortly “the name of the new coach will be made known”. The dream is Zidane. Mancini’s, economic accounts aside, is already over.