Gennaro Gattuso believes AC Milan rushed into appointing Filippo Inzaghi as their coach last summer rather than giving him more time to develop.
Inzaghi, 41, was promoted to the Rossoneri hotseat after two successful years in charge of their youth team.
Results have not been satisfactory, however, and eighth-placed Milan head into the last 10 games of the Serie A season with an eight-point deficit on the top six, making qualifying for Europe next season seem unlikely — meaning they would be absent from European competition for two years running for the first time since 1997-1999.
According to Gattuso, Inzaghi was not yet ready to take on such an important role and he has pointed the finger at the club for rushing to appoint him.
“If you’re offered the Milan job, you don’t say no but I feel it was a bit hasty on both sides,” he told RAI radio. “It was the same with me [in his first managerial job] at Palermo.
“We were both great players and we won everything going, but being a coach is a different job and it’s complicated. You need to get experience and that’s not something you can just buy at the supermarket. You need to work hard and keep up with the trends, taking a look around and working on the field.”
As a result of this lack of experience, Gattuso feels Inzaghi’s side were destined to struggle this season, although he says the club are hardly doing everything they can to help him.
“I hear that they want to invest in youth, but then they sell their best players and pick up others on free transfers,” he said. “It’s important that they are honest with the fans. Milan were at the top for many years and now they’re having a bit of a tough time. It happens, but it’s important that they have a clearly defined plan.
“It’s fine to have a negative moment after over 25 years, but what leaves me perplexed is the lack of direction. Having a few negative seasons happens, but there seems to be a lot of improvisation going on.”