I can only think of two top Italians that made surprise moves(Pirlo and Baggio), and even classing the moves as 'to rivals' is questionable. Maybe Pirlo's move to Juve?(I know he was at Inter for a while but that was a loan). Personally, I think there's more to Mancini for him to even think about taking over that shower of shite, unless he's planning on doing a major Clarkie on em.
I've no idea where the criterion of "surprise" comes from - I referred only to being willing to serve two rival clubs - and I'm not sure whether you class Milan and Inter as "rivals". I do, though, and since the late 1990s the following big-name Italian players have represented both (I won't bother listing the seventeen foreigners, who also include some huge names): Bonucci, Coco, Cassano, Pazzini, Ganz, Favalli, Balotelli, Brocchi, Baggio, Vieri and Pirlo.
I also believe that seven men in history have coached both clubs, too. For comparison, the figure is one who's managed both us and the rags, one for the blue and red scousers, and two for Arsenal and Spurs.
Both Milan clubs arguably have a degree of rivalry with Juventus, given that historically these have generally been regarded as being Italian football's big three, and plenty have represented one of the Milan outfits plus Juve. It's also not all that uncommon for players to have played for both Lazio and Roma, or Juve and Torino, at some point during their careers).
So, yes, I think Italian football culture is more attuned to this kind of thing than ours is, and so Mancini would be somewhat atypical if he were to make a big thing of it when determining whether to take a particular job. And in terms of whether he'd go to Old Trafford or not, I set out below the reasons I think he'd consider it seriously in the currently hypothetical scenario of him being a top professional football coach looking for employment at a big club in summer 2022.
I know that City fans would like to believe that Bobby Manc is one of us and wouldn't even countenance going there. Now, they may be right - but my personal opinion is that I suspect they aren't. As it happens, I don't think he'll end up in the job for other reasons, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't think seriously about it if they made him an offer.
One of the largest reasons why top class managers should avoid the rag job is their history of sacking managers without giving the full reasons why they sack the managers.
I get it that the chosen one was a tosser and that Moyes could have been out of his depth and that LVG couldn't string a coherent sentence together if his life depended on it, that last victim being the Norwegian show gimp.
Who hired these people? The board at the swamp hasn't taken one iota of blame, and top manager who goes there has got to be an idiot of the highest order, even Herr Flick wont commit himself and he's a journeyman at best.
Whether a manager SHOULD avoid that job and whether they WILL are different points. You're talking about what, in terms of its global reach, is an enormous club and it has a capacity to generate money to match, whether people like to acknowledge that on a City message board or not.
They'll throw a ton of money at the transfer market. They've been relatively mediocre since the architect of their previous successes left over 8 years ago, so anyone who can engineer a decent one-olff season to win the title there, or fluke a CL, will be hailed as some kind of messiah who's restored them to the glories of Ferguson's days. They'll give you a massive contract and you'll trouser an eight-figure sum if it doesn't go your way and they fire you.
Sure, they need an overhaul of the football operation if they're going to mount a sustained challenge to the other top PL clubs. But for a world-class coach who backs himself to show that in his work and is given guarantees that they won't impose on him players that he doesn't want, why wouldn't he fancy a couple of years there on the above terms? There'll be plenty of takers, I assure you, who'll look at it without the blue-tinted glasses.
