Jim Holden Mourinho leading Serie A renaissance
The wild celebration that greeted Italy’s victory at Euro 2020 was not merely about the joy and glory of triumph at a major tournament. The songs, car horns and fireworks in Rome, Milan and Naples were more than that: they were also exuberant delight that Italian football is relevant again, that Calcio is back in the big time, and that players like Federico Chiesa, Leonardo Spinazzola and Gigi Donnarumma can charm the world.
For too many years football in Italy has endured an inferiority complex, believing the best teams and finest players were elsewhere.
When Italy played in dazzling style to beat Switzerland 3-0 among a crowd of Romans at the Stadio Olimpico, the locals were still full of doubt. They dared not believe the evidence of their own eyes; there had been too many false dawns and recent disappointment to be seduced into optimism. By the end of the thrilling ride to become European champions however, the sustained excellence of Roberto Mancini’s side had restored confidence, ambition and excitement to Italian football.
It is in that very same stadium that the most dynamic change of the new domestic season will be seen: Jose Mourinho’s arrival at AS Roma – a big name, a big personality, big expectation. Superstar foreign coaches have avoided Serie A for the past decade; indeed, Mourinho himself walked away from the league after the most successful season of his career, winning the treble with Internazionale in 2009-10.
It is impossible to exaggerate the level of enthusiasm and energy inspired by the news of his appointment, not just in Rome, but across the entire country. It is viewed as another symbol of change in tune with triumph at Euro 2020.
Mourinho has sounded all the correct notes in his opening days with typical verve. He was photographed driving around the club’s training camp on a Vespa, and announced his entry to the fans with the words “Daje Roma”. This captivated the supporters. Daje is a slang word in the city, unknown to outsiders. A rough translation is “Come on Roma”, but only rough. It is much more – and that Mourinho bothered to find the perfect obscure word left the fans exultant.
Can he now find such quick precision with the Roma team, and do so at a big and complicated club where supporters are swift to complain, and where money for transfers will be more limited than Mourinho is accustomed to? The first signing was encouraging: the purchase of a high-class goalkeeper in Portugal international Rui Patricio.
Others will surely follow, but perhaps the key will be the clutch of Italians at the club. Injury will rob Roma of scintillating
It is impossible to exaggerate the level of enthusiasm and energy inspired by the news of his appointment
full-back Spinazzola for a few months, but there is experience and talent in players like Bryan Cristante, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Gianluca Mancini. There should also be the return from longterm injury of Italian football’s most precious young talent, Nicolo Zaniolo, a skilful and goal-hungry forward.
There is more than enough quality for Mourinho to work with. Roma should be a top-four team, and if he is successful on the field they will have one of the most passionate army of fans as an extra man. They start 100 per cent behind their new boss. They see his charisma and trophies, and remain deaf to the noisy headlines from abroad that Mourinho’s magic has faded.
Mourinho’s appointment is the most headline-grabbing among several in Serie A. The return of Massimiliano Allegri has been greeted with vast enthusiasm by Juventus fans, while Lazio supporters are happily astonished to see a coach with the pedigree of Maurizio Sarri at the helm. The former Chelsea boss replaces Simone Inzaghi, who has taken over from Antonio Conte at Inter in another intriguing move.
Even before these appointments, there had already been signs of rejuvenation, for those willing to look. Atalanta, under the guidance of head coach Gian Piero Gasperini, have delivered some of the best football in Europe in the past two years with previously unsung players like Matteo Pessina. Elsewhere, last season’s runners-up Milan look as close to restoring their former glory under Stefano Pioli as they have since their last title in 2011.
Gone are the days of Serie A being notoriously defensive: now it is the home of innovative, elite coaches. The opportunity for the league to restore itself at the top of European football has never been greater, and Mourinho and co. will be right at the heart of its rejuvenation.