Gennaro Gattuso warned Juventus head coach Andrea Pirlo that his illustrious playing career will count for little in his new job.
Pirlo, who has not had a coaching job and only took over as Juve s Under-23s boss last week, was handed the reins in Turin on Saturday in the wake of Maurizio Sarri s dismissal.
The former midfielder – who won four Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia and two Supercoppa Italiana during a four-year spell with Juve – has signed a two-year deal.
However, Gattuso, who played alongside Pirlo at Milan and for Italy, provided an honest assessment of the job s difficulties for his former team-mate.
Well he s screwed now… That s the job, Gattuso told Sky Italia following Napoli s defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League.
He s lucky to be starting at Juventus, but this profession is one where a great playing career is not enough.
You have to study, to work hard, and you don t get much sleep.
OFFICIAL | Andrea Pirlo is the new coach of the First Team.
— JuventusFC (#Stron9er ) (@juventusfcen)
Gattuso s first job in coaching came at FC Sion, with the 42-year-old then having spells at Palermo, OFI Crete and Pisa before he took charge of Milan s youth team in 2017.
He was promoted to first-team head coach following Vincenzo Montella s sacking later that year, though he was dismissed at the end of the 2018-19 campaign after a fifth-placed finish, going on to replace Carlo Ancelotti at Napoli, who he guided to the Coppa Italia title this term.
Being a player and being a coach is really not the same thing at all, Gattuso added.
It s a totally different profession and we can t learn it just from books, we need to get in there and work hard. It s a different world.
