Gianluca Nani had a spell as West Ham’s sporting director between 2008 and 2010.
This came after his impressive period at Brescia, where he helped the club develop Andrea Pirlo and Luca Toni. He also played a role in Roberto Baggio’s arrival.
In contrast, his spell at West Ham didn’t go too well and the Hammers ended up suffering relegation in 2011.
Nani has now spoken to Tuttomercatoweb about his time in London. He explained he arrived without knowing too much English. Only being able to use 12 sentences.
He told the outlet: “I went to work in England, at West Ham, without knowing English. This was thanks to the work I had done in Brescia. I knew twelve sentences, and I replied the same thing twice at the presentation after explicitly asking to give the conference in English.”
Further, Nani disclosed that his first press conference ended in laughter.
“It ended with everyone laughing. I told the journalists that my English was still better than their Italian.”
During his time at West Ham, the Italian brought in players from Serie A. This included Valon Behrami, Alessandro Diamanti and Manuel da Costa.
Nani went on to work with Watford and then at Reading. None of the two stints were exceptional but he found a home with the Pozzo family, where he is currently the group technical director.
He is clearly someone who is more adept at operating in the Italian market. While working with the Pozzo family, he has played a key role in helping Udinese become a reliable selling club in Serie A.
