5 former players who currently manage their old club

#5 Simone Inzaghi - SS Lazio

Simone Inzaghi is rated as one of Europe's best young coaches

Throughout his playing career, despite making over 250 appearances mainly in Italy’s Serie A, Simone Inzaghi was largely in the shadow of his more successful brother Filippo, who won three Serie A titles and two Champions Leagues with Juventus and Milan, and also won the World Cup in 2006 with Italy.

Simone meanwhile played for Rome giants Lazio for a long period of time – between 1999 and 2010 – and while he won the Scudetto with them in the 1999/00 season, he was never really one of their key players despite his long service. Not that there was any shame in that given some of the world-class players – Marcelo Salas, for instance – that they could call upon during his time there. As a manager though, it looks like that may well all change.

Inzaghi was appointed as Lazio’s youth coach upon his retirement in 2010 and remained in that job for six years until late in the 2015/16 season when the club sacked Stefano Pioli. It wasn’t supposed to be a permanent deal, and Marcelo Bielsa was announced as the new boss for 2016/17. The Argentine didn’t even last a week though – the reasons remain unknown – and so Inzaghi stepped back into the hot seat. And he did well, too – leading them to 5th place, an improvement on the previous season’s 8th place finish.

Due to this successful season, his contract was extended until 2020, and he’s now cultivating a reputation as one of Europe’s best younger coaches. Lazio currently sit in 5th place in Serie A and in October they became the first side to beat Juventus in Turin for two years. With phenomenal striker Ciro Immobile leading the line, Inzaghi’s success as a boss at Lazio could enable him to step out of his brother’s shadow for good.