The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Udinese and Watford owners wary of restart
ROME » After nearly 35 years of club ownership — more than anyone else in Serie A — Udinese’s Gianpaolo Pozzo is drawing on his decades of experience to confront the crisis brought on by the coronavirus.
Perhaps that’s why he prefers to be more cautious than most of his peers who are anxious to get the season — and the Italian league’s TV contract income — going again as soon as possible.
Pozzo, who turns 79 on May 25, has been adamant that the league needs a full month of training before restarting games.
That means he thinks the league’s aim of restarting the weekend of June 13-14 is “impossible” without producing a series of player injuries.
“At the minimum, we need a month to have a proper preparation like we do every year before starting the season,” Pozzo said in an interview with The Associated Press this week, when clubs were given the go-ahead from the government to resume full team training.
“Whereas we’re being super cautious about the virus, then we’re going to be totally careless about everything else?”
Last week, Pozzo angered Serie A officials when he wrote a letter to Italian Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora asking the government to step in and slow the league’s restart. He also asked Spadafora to lighten the responsibility of team physicians if players and club members get sick from the virus.
Udinese, Pozzo recalled, was quarantined after learning that Fiorentina — the team it faced on March 8, a day before the league was suspended — had three players who tested positive for COVID-19.
Fiorentina’s team physician was hospitalized with the virus and the club’s sports director, Daniele Pradè, recently revealed that he infected nine members of his extended family, some of whom were hospitalized.
“Our physicians were frightened by that experience,” Pozzo said. “They said to themselves, ‘If something like that happens here, we would be responsible according to Italian law.’”
Pozzo’s family also owns English club Watford, which is opposing the Premier League’s restart plans.
“The conditions are not right yet,” Pozzo said. “The virus is still advancing rapidly there, at least compared to here. They’re a few (weeks) behind us.”
Watford defender Adrian Mariappa said this week that he is one of the six people to test positive from the first round of coronavirus checks in the Premier League. Two members of Watford’s staff also tested positive.
Both Udinese and Watford are hovering just above their respective relegation zones.
But it does mean continuity, as evidenced by 25 consecutive seasons in the top division — trailing only Inter Milan, Roma, AC Milan and Lazio.
“Our strategy has always been to rely on young players and be fortunate enough to see them explode,” Pozzo said. “There were years where that happened and we reached the Champions League.
“We’re a small, provincial club and we’ve got to get by like that. We can’t go after big-name players who cost 50, 80, 100 million euros. We’ve got to go and discover players with talent and hope they reach their full potential. That’s it. That’s our secret.”
Udinese has “discovered” a long list of players who went on to greatness elsewhere. To name just a handful: Alexis Sánchez, Juan Cuadrado, Stephen Appiah, David Pizarro and Samir Handanovi .
Argentina international Rodrigo de Paul and Ivory Coast midfielder Seko Fofana — both 25 — are the jewels of Udinese’s current squad.
“We’ve got scouts all over the place,” Pozzo said. “But a lot of it is linked to good luck.”