Mihajlovic: my time at Milan, why I nearly went to Juve, and why Belotti is Italy's best striker
Though Torino’s strong start to the season has many fathers, one of them is, without a doubt, new Coach Sinisa Mihajlovic, the Serb having injected some freshness and belief into Torino’s dressing room.
Now seventh and playing breathtaking football, the Granata Coach could sit back, relax, and tell a major Italian newspaper the full story of his Milan days, his opinion of Andrea Belotti… and about the time he nearly moved to Juventus!
BELOTTI - “He’s good because he’s hungry. And he’s improved a lot, he never leaves anything on the pitch, even in training. He still has to improve, but if he keeps this up, he’ll be Italy’s best striker by the end of the year”.
MILAN - “When they hired me, they wanted me to be a Coach with a personality, and when you choose Mihajlovic, that’s exactly what you get. You can’t think that you’re going to do things your way.
“When I got there I tried to bring a working culture back to the dressing room, and I succeeded. We cut down on injuries. Alex, who hadn’t played the previous year, suddenly played every game.
“We wasted time trying the 4-3-1-2 Berlusconi wanted in the first seven, eight games, even though it was clear we couldn’t play that way. Then we lost to Napoli and I told Berlusconi that we couldn’t carry on like that: “I want to do things my way, I want to try my thing, if it’s good with you it’s good with everyone, otherwise send me away”. Results started coming [Milan went unbeaten for 12 games].
JUVENTUS - “When I moved to Roma? I’d been negotiating with Juventus the previous year, and I was rated because Red Star had won the Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup.
“Then, suddenly, [Vujadin] Boskov went to Roma, I went with him because he valued me, and I thought that that was the best option, to go with a Coach who knew me”.
