Former Italy national team coach, Arrigo Sacchi, spent two years as Real Madrid’s director of football, where he worked under then-president Florentio Pérez and alongside Brazilian wunderkind, Robinho.
But the 62-year-old veteran had differing views about the two figures who have re-entered the news headlines in the past few days and weeks. While he urged Pérez to return to the Santiago Bernabéu., he slammed Robinho for making the wrong choice in leaving the Spanish capital.
“Florentino is a great person and he could be a phenomenal president, but he must be just a president,” he said during an interview with Onda Cero .
“I said to him before [when he was still president] that he was ruining all his hard work because he wanted to be the coach, the sports director, the forward, the goalkeeper…” he elaborated.
“He loves this club and he certainly did not like the way he left. I believe he dreams of making a return.”
Sacchi thinks that should the ex-supremo really make a comeback to the ‘White House’, he will be aiming for even bigger targets in the transfer market. He said, “Florentino’s objective, I think, will be to sign Cristiano [Ronaldo], Kaká and [Lionel] Messi. He will go for all three.”
In a separate interview, the Italian had previously praise Kaká for turning down a mega-money move to struggling Premier League side, ManchesterCity - but he did not have the same kind words to say about Robinho, who joined the cashed-up Eastlands club this past summer.
“He [Robinho] made a big mistake," said Sacchi. "Nobody should leave Madrid for ManchesterCity, especially a player that is 24 years of age.
“I think he lost his head and he was only thinking about the money and now, he has lost his joy… his fantasy.
“People always say that footballers are money-grabbers, but we have recently seen that it is not always like that. Kaká has rejected a ton of money because he preferred the quality of his football life."
KS Leong, Goal.com
