Gennaro Gattuso new coach of Hajduk Split

(Patria) - Gennaro Gattuso (46) is the new coach of Hajduk Split.

"HNK Hajduk can confirm with special pleasure today that the legendary Gennaro Gattuso will lead our first team in the new season.

He signed a contract with the Whites until the summer of 2026, and will arrive in Split next week, at the beginning of the first team's preparations, when we will officially present him at Poljud," announced the Split club.

Let's recall, Hajduk has been looking for a new coach since Mislav Karoglan was fired in the spring part of last season after a crisis, writes Index.hr.

Jure Ivanković was a temporary solution, and then numerous names were speculated in the media. The last one was Ivan Jurić, whose arrival failed at the last moment because the coach allegedly gave up.

"As a coach, his last engagement was leading the French giant Olympique Marseille, from whose bench he left in February this year.

Previously, he managed Valencia in Spain, and before that Fiorentina, Napoli, and Milan, where he coached our sports director Nikola Kalinić as a player.

At the very beginning of his coaching career, after an episode in Switzerland, he was the head of the professional staff at Palermo, then OFI Crete in Greece, and Pisa in Italy.

HNL will be the seventh league in which he will serve as head coach, and Hajduk his ninth club.

The environments and clubs where he has worked so far are known to be extremely demanding, however, he has proven so far in his football and coaching career that he is extremely resistant to the high pressure and expectations to which he has been exposed.

With Napoli, he won the Italian Cup in 2020 in the final against Juventus, thus ending the long trophy drought of the Neapolitan giants," the Hajduk statement reads.

Gattuso was a great midfielder who played for Perugia, Glasgow Rangers, Salernitana, Milan, and Swiss Sion during his playing career.

The largest part, from 1999 to 2012, he played for Milan, with whom, among other things, he won two Champions Leagues, was Serie A champion twice, and won the UEFA Super Cup, the Italian Super Cup, and the Club World Cup.

He also won the World Cup with Italy in 2006, and ended his rich career in 2013.

"Due to his style of play, fighting spirit, uncompromisingness, and strong winning mentality, he became an iconic figure in world football," states Hajduk.