Ranieri drags Roma toward the feat, but meanwhile a bigwig in the Italian bench swears the future is already written. And the name makes noise…
“So che alla Roma ci va Gasperini”: un pezzo da 90 ci ha smentito così Ranieri (Foto: Ansa/LaPresse) – serieanews.com
Seeing him there, on the bench, with that good uncle face that forgives you even if you have done a big stupidity, one might even forget that Claudio Ranieri has returned to Trigoria to accomplish yet another feat of his career. But one only has to look at the standings to realize that this time it is not just about romance.
Roma, the one he revived on the run when it seemed destined for another gray season, now finds itself two steps away from a Champions League spot. From ninth place to the Champions zone, through games won by the teeth, changes at the right time, and group management that to call skillful is an understatement.
Anyone who has set foot inside Trigoria in the past two months tells the same thing: new air, enthusiasm, a coach who speaks his mind and a team that follows him without a huff. Yet despite this climb that has the miraculous, Ranieri knows full well that he will not be the one to lead the Roma of the future.
It is not just a matter of age or fatigue. Ranieri accepted this call knowing that it would be timed. His task was-and is-to fix a derailed season and hand the still-functioning toy back to those who come after. And that is precisely why, in recent weeks, he has been working under the radar to identify who should pick up the legacy.
Because this is not just about choosing a coach: it is about finding someone who can hold the weight of a new cycle after years of broken promises, half-hearted revolutions and attempts to build ended in rubble. And Ranieri, with his usual seriousness, wants to make sure he passes the baton to the right person.
At the press conference, however, he made a rather unusual gesture: he ruled out all the names that have been circulating so far. All of them. Including the most recurring one, the most whispered one, the one that – and we have confirmation of this – he has heard on several occasions imagining a future together in the Capital.
Gasperini alla Roma, il retroscena che cambia tutto: l’ha svelato un famoso allenatore
Too bad that-as is often the case in football-there are those who know more. Or rather: those who say they know. And in this case, the phrase does not come from just any pundit or social insider. The speaker was a top Italian coach, one who has seen and won quite a few titles. Whom of course we will not name so as not to get him in trouble.
Gasperini alla Roma, il retroscena che cambia tutto: l’ha svelato un famoso allenatore (AnsaFoto) – serieanews.com
Asked about the possibility of coaching Roma himself next year, he replied with a smile, “I don’t think so. I know that Gasperini goes in the end.” Boom. A simple sentence, thrown out there as if we were talking about the weather, but one that weighs like a boulder. Because if it’s a big name saying it, one who has won more than a few things in Italy, maybe it pays to believe him at least a little.
Gasperini, after all, is one of the few Italian coaches who can boast of a long-term project in Serie A. And although he is something of a semi-divinity in Bergamo, it is well known that he has now decided to say goodbye to everyone and try a new adventure.
Now, that Ranieri has publicly denied this, giving breath to various speculations some even very “adventurous,” may have a thousand explanations. Perhaps he simply wants to protect his colleague from premature pressure. Maybe he is trying not to destabilize the environment. Or maybe – a more mischievous hypothesis – he told a “white lie” so as not to burn an ongoing negotiation.
The fact is that someone inside the rooms that matter is convinced that Roma’s future already has a face. And that face – net of true or alleged denials – seems to be that of Gian Piero Gasperini.
This article “I know Gasperini is going to Roma”: a 90 piece debunked us so Ranieri appeared in its original version first on SerieANews.
