Chelsea will attract promising young midfielders by hiring Andrea Pirlo
This week Andrea Pirlo announced he would be retiring from play as a footballer. Perhaps Pirlo will never be a manager, but there is no reason he could not add a wild amount of intellect and gravitas to the Chelsea backroom.
Chelsea FC would be wonderfully served by adding Andrea Pirlo to Antonio Conte’s coaching staff. During his time in Serie A, he had some of the best years of his career under Conte. Pirlo would be a boon to the coaching staff because of his success at every level. He could very easily take a role with the youth team or first team and make a great difference.
Pirlo has on many occasion’s quoted how highly he thinks of Conte. In his book I Think, Therefore, I Play Pirlo stated Conte is one of the best managers he has ever worked with.
"When he speaks his words assault you. They crash through the doors of your mind, often quite violently and settle deep within you. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve found myself saying, ‘Hell, Conte said something really spot-on again today.”"
When asked about coaching under Conte as an assistant, Pirlo responded “An assistant to Conte? People are saying that. I have my ideas but I need time to decide.”
Chelsea would benefit greatly from hiring Andrea Pirlo, and Antonio Conte deserves to have him on his coaching staff. Modern football is a constant arms race for talent at all levels. Players want to play for the best coaches in the best teams in the world.
One of the lures of Real Madrid for Eden Hazard is working for an idol of his in ZInedine Zidane. Having a player-turned-coach like Pirlo, who is equally idolized at the same level as Zidane, is helpful to Chelsea in this way.
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There is not a single young midfielder in the world who would not relish the chance to simply ride the same bus as Andrea Pirlo, let alone take advice and coaching from him. Chelsea can use this as an opportunity to groom Pirlo for future management under, Conte as well as improve at the moment. If Chelsea can sign Pirlo it would be nothing but a genius move.