Club chairman Daniel Levy approached the World Cup-winning manager Marcelo Lippi on several occasions, most recently in 2012 prior to Andre Villas-Boas’ appointment. Lippi said he was tempted by the move, particularly while he was at Juventus in the early 2000s, but ultimately decided the language barrier was too much. “They were very nice to me by contacting my son Davide. But I didn’t feel like leaving Turin and Juventus.”
“I didn’t speak English well and that was also a reason I declined. Someone told me that Ferguson also didn’t speak English well because he was Scottish!” Would Marcelo Lippi have been a success in England? In doing so, he became the first, and remains the only, manager to win both the Champions League and the World Cup.
He spent almost all of his managerial career in his homeland, managing the likes of Atalanta, Napoli and Inter Milan, but the bulk of his success came across two stints at Juventus. He then won the World Cup with Italy before turning up in China, firstly with Guangzhou Evergrande, and later with China’s national team. He retired in 2020. We also treat our community members to competitions, special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.
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