TMW exclusive
Born in 1983, made in Palermo. A past as a player in the rosanero from the youth team to the first team, Napoli and the call of Juventus. A career that began at Che Guevara, at the Mondo Jeans camp of which today only weeds and waste remain but which once churned out talent. Between past, present and future, the former defender and until last year sporting director of Palermo, Leandro Rinaudo it is told to the microphones of TuttoMercatoWeb.com for the football giants.
Rinaudo, what effect does it have on you to return to the places where you started playing football as a child?
“When we talk about the good moments of football, of life, they are good memories. I spent my childhood in the fields, school and obviously my family. Even as a child I was obsessed with football, I stopped to watch the older ones. Coming back here is beautiful, exciting. It makes me think back to the whole road I’ve come, the sacrifices. It’s sad to see what the camp was like in these conditions because so many kids have passed through this facility. Via Messina Marine has always been the place where many football schools were located. I hope it can flourish again.”
When did you get the spark and think you should be a footballer?
“My brother Giuseppe started playing here, on the same field where I started. Then he landed in teams like Reggina and Avellino. I followed in his footsteps. I had great motivation, the desire to achieve goals and fulfill my dream. I went to school near the camp, in Via Torrelunga; my grandmother’s house in Via Sperone. There weren’t all the distractions like now, football was the first activity and when I wasn’t playing here I was doing it in the street with friends. The street made you grow, this is missing from today’s children and it’s a shame.”
How did you arrive at Palermo’s youth sector as a footballer?
“We played a match against the Palermo youth sector, of the same age. We won 4-2 and I scored three goals. So the coach at the time, Mister Biagini, contacted my family to take me to Palermo.”
Then Varese…
“First time away from home. A difficult experience. Leaving at 17-18 without knowing anyone is not easy, but that stage was fundamental for my growth.”
Until, after a series of experiences including the one with Palermo in the first team, he won the call from Napoli.
“A great opportunity. An important experience with other top-level footballers who have made a great journey. I started to have some physical problems but it was a very nice experience. Experiencing Naples from a footballing and human perspective is one of the most exciting experiences a footballer can have.”
Then he arrived at Juventus and she thought she had to go to Bari…
“A negotiation that Beppe Accardi had been carrying out for a month. At Juventus there were Fabio Paratici and Mister Delneri who I had had at Palermo. Juve represents every child’s dream, it gives you unique emotions. After the first match against Cagliari I had very serious physical problems with my back and achilles tendon which caused me significant suffering. My ordeal began there and prevented me from continuing my professional growth.”
In Livorno, in a normal match against Fiorentina, Giuseppe Rossi paid the price. And the media pillory against him began in Florence…
“A game clash. A great media uproar emerged, but I have always been calm because inside me there was never the intention of harming Giuseppe Rossi and this is demonstrated by his gesture which gave me great peace of mind. Peppe was the first player to call me telling me that he knew what had happened and that it was certainly not my fault. Inside me I already knew that I hadn’t behaved badly, that phone call was further confirmation.”
If you look at your past as a footballer, where did you start from, what comes to mind?
“That I’m proud of what I’ve done. I have never had help from anyone except my family and my agent Beppe Accardi. It has always been an uphill road and everything I have achieved has been the result of the sacrifices made and daily work. But I look ahead because I like to put new goals and new motivations in front of my path.”
After his experiences with Bari, Virtus Entella and Vicenza he began a managerial career. At Venezia, alongside Perinetti.
“The role of the sporting director has always intrigued me. I liked looking at the managers with a different eye and stopping to talk to them to understand the role. But you really understand it when you get into it. Then thanks to Giorgio Perinetti I was able to start this journey: he gave me the opportunity to support him in a winning three-year period in Venice, then he received a call from Serie A and thanks to the esteem gained on the pitch I was promoted by the club. It was a positive year where we reached the semifinal of the playoffs.”
Then he becomes the sporting director of Cremonese. The experience ended with an exoneration. What happened?
“I was thirty-four years old. I probably didn’t fully know some dynamics. But it’s part of the growth journey. As I see life, if you don’t live experiences that may seem negative, you will hardly learn and improve. Today I feel like a more mature and aware person.”
Then the return home. In the youth sector of Palermo which had to rebuild from bankruptcy.
“I came from experiences in Serie B. The Palermo youth sector was a challenge that I accepted because of the sense of belonging to the rosanero colours. A bit as if I wanted to give something back to Palermo. After the bankruptcy nothing existed. I received the call from President Mirri and Rinaldo Sagramola and we began the project where everything had to be completely rebuilt and over the years we have succeeded.”
Palermo goes to Serie B, City Group arrives and Baldini and Castagnini resign. She becomes the sporting director of the first team.
“An opportunity that I believe I deserved through work and seriousness. It was the people from Manchester who identified me, a great satisfaction. As if a circle was closing which however was not closed because I would have liked to reach the goal of Serie A as sporting director of Palermo. But as a Palermo native, with the rosanero colors I was a youngster, the spring, the first team, the debut in UEFA with a double, the manager of the youth sector and the sporting director of the first team: I am proud of the path also because there is no anyone else in Palermo who has lived this experience in several phases of life as happened to me. I believe that equally important work was done with the first team: the first year we had to save ourselves and we came one step away from the playoffs, the second year we played the semi-final of the playoffs against the team that then went to Serie A. The management and the numbers make me feel satisfied with the work done”.
When you change it you do it because you want to improve. Today Palermo, who replaced her with Morgan De Sanctis, have not improved.
“These are also numbers but there is still time, the championship is long. Palermo of the City Football Group had the objective in the first two years of consolidation and then of being competitive to try to go to Serie A. The third year, that is, this one, was the one in which they had to try to win the championship. There are choices in football and in life. The decisions were made by managers who have experience, certainly with the awareness that this team could do more by choosing people who they thought could make the leap in quality. Due to potential and investments, Palermo must also now set itself the goal of going to Serie A because it is an objective declared by the owners.”
As a Palermo native and Palermo sporting director, how did you experience the pressure of the city when the results didn’t arrive?
“Experience teaches you to separate work and personal life. In the years in which I was Palermo’s sporting director I left the children at school, I went to the English course, to the headquarters and to the pitch and in the evening I returned home. I felt and listened as little as possible.”
Among the attempted shots is Barcola. A regret?
“There was a serious and concrete possibility of bringing him to Palermo. He was at Lyon and was starting to show something of his potential. We presented the project to him and there were moments when he was quite interested. But one regret is not being able to bring Oristanio to Palermo in the summer of 2023 because the inclusion of Cagliari was pressing and the boy chose Serie A.”
And the future?
“I always see and think positive. I’ve also had some opportunities recently but I haven’t felt those positive vibes that I need to feel to start a new experience.”
Who is Leandro Rinaudo off the pitch?
“A very normal person who likes to experience family, friends and home. I watch a lot of matches, I like the tranquility.”
Aside from football, any other passions?
“The world of the designer. I read a lot of magazines. I am passionate about renovations and the real estate world. And padel: an activity born in the R2 structure a few months ago in Bagheria together with my brother and my friend Alessandro”.
She has two children. Would you like to see them in the world of football?
“They have a passion that, honestly, I have never been insistent on passing it on to them. I know what it takes to get to certain levels; they play and have fun, they are happy when they win and sad when they lose. Of course I would be really happy if they were to be part of this world on an important level. But I know that if it were to happen it would happen naturally. Without pressure.”