Genoa Fires Coach Alberto Gilardino And Reportedly Lines Up Patrick Vieira To Replace Him

Genoa surprisingly fired coach Alberto Gilardino on Tuesday and reportedly alrey has Patrick Vieira lined up to replace him — which could have implications for new forward Mario Balotelli.

Genoa is just a point above Serie A drop zone having lost half of its league matches. But news still came as a surprise as Gilardino appeared to have turned things around, picking up four points from two matches before international break and future looking more positive with team's injury problems starting to ease.

“Genoa CFC announces that Alberto Gilardino has been relieved of his duties,” club said in a brief statement.

“ club thanks mister Gilardino for goals achieved toger over years and wishes him best in his career.”

Gilardino initially took charge of Genoa on an interim basis in December 2022 but was given job on a permanent basis following a string of positive results. He steered team to promotion from Serie B and to an impressive 11th place finish in his first season coaching in top flight.

However, Genoa struggled at beginning of this season following departures of star forwards Mateo Retegui and Albert Guðmundsson and injuries started mounting up.

That led Genoa to sign Balotelli and it will have to be seen what impact Vieira coming in will have on former Italy forward.

Vieira and Balotelli were teammates at Inter Milan and Manchester City but fell out when Vieira was Nice coach, eventually leing to Balotelli moving to Marseille.

Vieira's first match in charge will be at home against Cagliari. teams are level on points in table.

48-year-old Vieira previously coached New York City FC in Major League Soccer and went on to manage Crystal Palace and n Strasbourg after leaving Nice.

During a stellar playing career, Vieira won three Premier League titles with Arsenal and four in Serie A with Inter Milan, as well as World Cup and European Championship with France.