Genoa surprisingly fired coach Alberto Gilardino on Tuesday and reportedly already have Patrick Vieira lined up to replace him -- which could have implications for new forward Mario Balotelli. Genoa are just a point above the Serie A drop zone having lost half of their league matches. But the news still came as a surprise as Gilardino appeared to have turned things around, picking up four points from the two matches before the international break and the future looking more positive with the team's injury problems starting to ease.
Gilardino initially took charge of Genoa on an interim basis in December but was given the job on a permanent basis following a string of positive results. He steered the team to promotion from Serie B and to an impressive 11th place finish in his first season coaching in the top flight.
That led Genoa to sign Balotelli and it will have to be seen what impact Vieira's arrival, which has been reported by Sky Sport Italia, will have on the former Italy forward. Vieira and Balotelli were teammates at Inter Milan and Manchester City but fell out when Vieira was the Nice coach, eventually leading to Balotelli moving to Marseille. Vieira's first match in charge would potentially be at home against Cagliari.
The teams are level on points in the table. If confirmed, he would take charge of Italy's oldest active football team, established in He then spent two-and-a-half years at Ligue 1 side Nice before moving to Palace. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Genoa fire Gilardino, reportedly line up Vieira. Arsenal thrashes Man City to stay in title chase. Sources: Man Utd eye Tel, Nkunku on deadline day. Spurs beat Brentford for 1st league win since Dec.
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