Sampdoria officially appoints Inter Milan legend, former Serbia international midfielder Dejan Stanković as new head coach..

2022-10-07 12:42

Sampdoria officially appoints Inter Milan legend, former Serbia international midfielder Dejan Stanković as new head coach..



Sampdoria announced on its official website on Thursday that Inter Milan legend and former Serbia international midfielder Dejan Stanković has been appointed as the club's new head coach.


According to Sampdoria's official statement, Stanković signed a one year short-term contract which will expire at summer of 2023, with an option to extend it for another year depending on meeting certain performances.



Seeing the potential within


Upon joing, Stanković, who was interviewed by Sampdoria's official website for the first time, said that he chose to join the club not because Sampdoria is in a very bad situation now, but as a club that has been dedicated to discovering Serbian talents across the years. He chose to join I Blucerchiati because of his love for the club and his admiration for its reputation.


Stanković also said that the players in the team actually have great potential, but they have not been discovered yet. The most important thing for him now is to teach the players how to learn from previous defeats, get up strong and do better. He also believes that as long as the team maintains faith and unity, the current state of decline can soon be reversed.



Returning to coach in Serie A from his home country after 7 years



It is worth mentioning that this is also Stanković's return to Serie A as a coach after 7 years.


The 44-year-old Stanković, who served as an assistant coach in the 2014/15 season after his retirement from Inter Milan, chose to spend a long time with his family instead of coaching after leaving the club.


At the end of December 2019, Stanković accepted the offer to return to Serbia to become the head coach of Red Star Belgrade.


During the period, Stanković led his team to win 3 Serbian SuperLiga championships and 2 Serbian Cup championships. However, after the club lost to Maccabi Haifa in the play-offs in August this year and missed the opportunity to compete in the UEFA Champions League group stage, Stanković stepped down by resigning from the post.


Sampdoria, who were firmly rooted to the bottom of the standings after a 3-0 home defeat to newly-promoted Monza in the league at the weekend, will face Bologna, who are also in dire straits this weekend.