Turin, 5 April (LaPresse) – "Do I miss Italy? I can assure you I don’t: here, I don’t just live well – I live life to the full. In Saudi Arabia, I’ve found a fantastic situation in every respect: the lifestyle, the sporting and non-sporting facilities, and the peace of mind that manages to accompany you even in a job as stressful as mine.” So said Simone Inzaghi, current manager of Al-Hilal, in an interview with the newspaper ‘Libertà’ to mark his 50th birthday. “My name being mentioned as a possible successor to Gattuso? I’m flattered, but as I said, I’m happy here and I have another year left on my contract with Al-Hilal,” he continued. “It saddens me greatly that Italy won’t be at the World Cup for the third time in a row; I’m 100 per cent Italian, and my brother even won a World Cup. I am absolutely certain that Italian football will bounce back very soon; I always follow it with the utmost attention. That said, I left Italian football for a number of reasons.” “Earning a lot of money is nice, obviously (he is the highest-paid player in the world, on €27 million net a year, ed.), but other considerations drove me here; I didn’t need the money, thankfully,” concluded the former Inter manager. “What were they? The desire to try a completely new experience in a completely new environment. My years at Inter were very satisfying from a professional point of view (one league title, three Super Cups, two Coppa Italia titles, two Champions League finals, ed.), but also very stressful. I felt the need to experience top-flight football again, but to switch off from a burden of pressure that had become very heavy."
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