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Silly season has officially begun. What does that mean for Aston Villa, a club with an actual manager? It means that they will be randomly linked with a new manager by a un-stable Italian transfer rumour generator.
Tuttomercato started off their day today by announcing to the world that Aston Villa had ‘held talks with’ former Sparta Praha manager Andrea Stramaccioni. I, for one, would be surprised if those talks went further than a simple ‘f**k off’ from Villa CEO Keith Wyness. I also, however, wouldn’t be surprised if Aston Villa, once more, shot their future into orbit and hired a random Italian coach, again.
The Italian site’s reasoning for this link is that Villa think Stramaccioni could be the next Marco Silva (he’s not) and that he can guide Villa to success (he won’t) based on his experience (there is none) of winning (nothing).
While I jest heartily at this news, I suppose that it wouldn’t be out of this world for a coach of Stramaccioni’s calibre to consider the Villa job (which is not open as of writing). The Italian has a background at Inter Milan, but none of his managerial spells have ended well. At all. That doesn’t exactly punt him out of the running, but all of this is somewhat disrespectful, considering that there is a man in the Villa hotseat right now, and as far as I am aware, his job is not up for grabs.
I’ll leave the final verdict to former Italian superstar, Antonio Cassano, who said that Stramaccioni was the ‘the worst person ever encountered in the world of football’.
I didn’t open a case, but I’m resting it there.