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What Andrea Pirlo's hiring at Juventus says about managing modern mega-clubs

Going forward, the most powerful soccer team in Italy and one of the true aristocrats of the global game will be led by a man with nine days of managerial experience. A team that has won the ever-competitive Serie A an astounding nine seasons in a row has appointed a head coach who has yet to actually oversee a competitive game, for his appointment to his last team came over the summer.

On July 30, Andrea Pirlo was put in charge of the Juventus under-23 team, which plays in the third-tier Serie C. It had been less than a year since he had enrolled in Italy’s fabled Coverciano coaching academy, where the doctrine of defending, organizing and nursing narrow leads is stamped on future managers.