Chiellini: Two more years, then...

By Football Italia staff

Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini has confirmed that he will play on for “no more” than two years but ruled out becoming a Coach.

Chiellini remains Juve’s captain but is now 35 and currently recovering from an ACL injury, and the veteran admits he is already thinking about life after football.

“I’ll play for a couple more years, no more,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I’d like to have a career in directorship but with great calmness because I think that the biggest mistake of us footballers, once our careers are over, is to think that we’re ready right away.

“When you stop playing, between 35 and 40 if you’re lucky, you think you know everything about football.

“But then you enter the world of work, where the same people your age have worked for at least 15 years at a good level.

“Even if you drop down a level, you find people who are 10 years younger than you but have 10 years more experience.

“Therefore, you have a gap to fill and you have to be humbly aware of it. You have important know-how from a footballing point of view, but you also have to put everything else into place.

“It’s like a puzzle, every piece is important. You don’t have to rush. One day at a time, like recovering from an injury.

"Putting a team on the pitch and coaching them for half an hour is good for everyone.

“Detachment from the pitch isn’t easy, but I’m not crazy about the life of a Coach.

“A good tactical system is no longer enough. Coaches increasingly need to be psychologists and motivational leaders too.

“A director can be like an administrator of a company that has to manage at least 50 or 60 people.

“It’s all-encompassing: you must have the badges, but you must also accept the pressure and all kinds of sacrifices.

“It’s not a kind of responsibility that I feel inside right now.”

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