Former Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has spoken about his philosophy as a coach and commented on reports linking him to the Premier League.
The Italian has been strongly linked with Manchester United with the Red Devils in freefall and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer under immense pressure to turn things around at Old Trafford.
Allegri has been out of a job since leaving Juventus in the summer, and has also been linked with the Tottenham job.
When speaking at the Football Coaches Association symposium via Przeglad Sportowy, Allegri laughed off the aforementioned stories: "I don't speak English enough yet, but I'm learning."
The five-time Serie A winner opened up about his approaches to management, admitting that he is open to new ideas.
"There are two ways to be a good trainer: authoritarian and liberal," he said. "I prefer the latter, so I listen more than I speak. Thanks to this strategy, I receive more information from the outside that positively changes my world. I still deny the validity of my ideas. I argue with myself.
"If I think that something is 100% good, I am worried and consult on this opinion with the people around me".
Allegri also spoke about his appointment at Juventus, after many in the footballing world were shocked that he walked into such a high profile job.
"When I came to Turin after Antonio Conte, many thought I was screwed that Juve were burned out, that the winning stage is over because the team is saturated," he said.
"The situation was not perfect because I found a team that need rebuilding. It's exciting, but also at risk of failure, and Juventus is not the place where the latter is accepted."
During his time in Italy, Allegri had a very interesting relationship with forwards Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mario Mandzukic.
"In Milan, Ibrahimovic was p***** off because others couldn't keep up with his reasoning," Allegri said. "Two years I explained to him that others do not play like him. He had to understand that."
"That's why Mandzukic is a special player for me. He gave me an amazing amount of room to manoeuvre. Great footballer. He often changed clubs, so he had a difficult patch. He stayed in one club for five years. This is one of my greatest successes."
While it seems Massimiliano Allegri is still some distance from gracing the top tier of English football, hiring the Italian must be a tempting proposition.
His wealth of experience and fantastic tactical knowledge makes him an exciting potential replacement at Manchester United.
Source : 90min