During a long interview granted to Radio TV Serie Athe president of Cagliari Tommaso Giulini spoke about his management of the club:
“I believe that the history of our management in this decade is a perfect example for better or for worse for anyone who wants to play football in a certain way and at certain levels. In 2014 we began a five-year period focused on sustainability, changing the image of Cagliari from every point of view. In those five years we were lucky enough to be able to develop an enormous talent like Nicolò Barella. I would divide everything into two parts, before and after Covid, with the growth and then the perfect storm after the sale of Barella, which occurred at record figures for transfers between Italian clubs. We reinvested everything immediately to try to make a leap in quality in the staff and therefore in the rankings, betting everything on three players who cost almost 50 million: Simeone, the only one who over the years was then resold at the same price; Nandez, who had five excellent years but we lost to zero as often happens in football today; Rog, who unfortunately broke his cruciate three times and wasn’t able to perform as we all hoped.
The wage bill increased and Covid broke out, in the middle of a season where we were at the top of the table and had already started to lose ground in December. The 2020-2021 season saw us safe but it was not positive, only now – with a long and tiring journey that will perhaps last a couple more seasons – the ship is being raised again. Football needs greater ethics and sustainability, I am for a more American model with a salary cap where we compete on competence and not on wallet.”