Gennaro Gattuso said no to Fabio Paratici

The words of Rino Gattuso

Gennaro Gattuso spoke to As about his missed opportunities: “I had signed with Fiorentina but after a week I gave up: we talked about many things and I saw that it was not working. A week later Paratici called me about Tottenham. It was 99 percent closed but I didn’t feel like it. In October and November I got other offers but I didn’t have the head. In April, after the Cup final, Anil Murthy called me and we met in Milan. He told me he liked the way my teams worked. I asked him for a week and studied the team with Gigi Riccio. Valencia had a totally different style than I like, but I was convinced that with time we could do a great job. Valencia is a great club. After two years at AC Milan and two at Napoli, I could not go to a team with no history or a bad city. I knew I was signing with a big club and that it was not going to be easy. I knew the fans had been angry with the owner for years and not playing in Europe. But I was convinced I was doing a good job.”

“I was surprised by the mentality of the players, the medical staff-the professionalism with which they work. I would jump into the fire with them. The mentality in the last four months has changed a lot. Ninety percent or 95 percent of the people here are very involved, and I like that.”