New Southampton manager had physical scrap with sporting director in a car park
Today at 05:04 AM
Southampton's new head coach Ivan Juric is one not to be messed with as his physical scrap with Torino's sporting director showed.
Juric has been handed an 18-month deal to replace Russell Martin with the Saints rock bottom of the Premier League.
The south coast club will need plenty of fight and the 49-year-old seemingly has that in abbundence.
This incident occurred during the 2022 summer transfer window as Juric grew frustrated with the club's slow pace in the market despite needing 10 new players.
Torino were in a bad state after star defender Gleison Bremer left for Juventus in a fee worth £49.1m.
The Croat reached boiling point while speaking with sporting director Davide Vagnati outside a hotel.
"Don't raise your voice at me," Vagnati loudly repeated as the two came head to head.
"P*** off," Juric responded as Marco Pellegri, Torino's team manager, came in between the bickering two.
"You’re a f****** nobody," said Vagnati, despite hiring the coach himself the summer prior. "I've f****** had it up to here."
The sporting director demanded respect while calling Juric a 'd*******'.
"I don't have any," Juric retorted. "Go do your job."
A spectator from their hotel balcony recorded the altercation but lowered the phone as Vagnati screamed out.
Later speaking on what happened Vagnati said: "There was a debate. It wasn't nice to see but these things happen when you have two people who really care about doing things in a certain way."
The head coach clearly voiced his frustrations with the budgeting, complaining as early as a month into his new job.
"Torino have chosen to go down the path of austerity," he said. "That's fine. The only problem is, me and my staff weren't aware of this decision to start cutting back on everything, so I'm a bit surprised by this way of doing things."
Southampton fans will have to be convinced Juric is their man to drag them to Premier League survival following their struggles with Russell Martin.
Juric started coaching in 2014, managing teams in the the third and second Italian divisions.
In 2016 he joined Serie A side Genoa where he was appointed as manager three times in the next two years. Instability that would cause any fan to be cautious of the 49-year-old.
Prior to his move to the south coast he coached Italian side Roma but was fired in November as they sat 20th.
The Saints spent £108.3m last summer transfer window and are unlikely to spend big next time around. A possible hurdle Juric will have to overcome if he is unhappy with current players.
