Juninho has been installed as sports director of Olympique Lyonnais for a year. But he admits that he misses the field.
For months Jean-Michel Aulas said and repeated that he wanted to bring Juninho back to Lyon, believing that the former OL player had all the qualities necessary to take responsibility within a club. All this with the blessing of OL supporters who are still under the spell of the man who wrote the most beautiful pages in the history of the club. But by agreeing to make this Lyon comeback in 2019, Juninho did not expect to have to undergo so much disillusionment in such a short time. Even if that does not call into question his motivation, the Brazilian admits in Le Progrès that he misses the field, and that the position of coach always tempts him. Without putting pressure on Rudi Garcia, whom he helped bring in last fall, Juninho admits that sometimes it itches.
Obviously, he will not let go of his role as sports director anytime soon, but no one can bet that one day or another the idea of seeing Juninho become coach of Olympique Lyonnais will be launched, even if he will have to graduate for that. “ I always thought of being a coach after my career, but what is the reality of life? I returned to my country, I did not pass my diplomas, so I cannot train. But people are also mistaken with the role of Sports Director. I am not an office man. If I like this role? I’m not going to say 1000% yes, because I prefer to smell the grass, but it’s a privilege to be there. I am fighting to succeed. What I like is when I talk football with Rudi three or four times a week, training, matches, opponents. I don’t have the right to choose the eleven, no, but I see and I feel things, I can ask him why we play in 4-3-3 or in 4-4-2, how are we going to train etc … I get along very well with him and I am with him until the end “Explains Juninho, who feels that not having the last tactical and technical say at Olympique Lyonnais is probably a concern.
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