Burnwinter wrote:
It's not really a very similar appointment to Guardiola. Interesting choice anyway.
Missed this post earlier.
It's pretty similar. They were both chosen for the impression their personalities had made on respective club rather than their management skills (of which they had none, or in Guardiola's case, close to none). By all accounts Seedorf is a deep thinker; more like Arséne Wenger than your average footballer. He's been that way since he was a teenager, pretty much. I read his biography a couple of years ago. There's some interesting stuff from Bruno Demichelis, a pioneer within sport psychology who is credited with the establishment of Milan Lab and acted as Milan's club psychologist for over twenty years. Demichelis claimed that he had never encountered anyone like Seedorf. Not Baresi, not Maldini, not Pirlo, not Ancelotti, not Donadoni, not Rijkaard, not Gullit or anyone else of all the greats who have been with the club. It's worth noting that the book was written when Seedorf still only was 27 and was yet to cement his legacy at the club. This is a guy whose mental strength, maturity and ability to analyse the game went far beyond his years.
Milan is perhaps the number one club in the world that has made those traits an integral part of who they are, so it stands to reason that they should be able to recognise someone with extraordinary qualities. Rumour has it that they wanted Seedorf as manager years ago but he wasn't ready to call quits on his career at the time.
