As a footballer Sylvinho is a genuine legend, playing at the highest levels in the shirts of Corinthians, Arsenal, Manchester City and above all Barcelona (a twice Champions League winner), with 14 trophies won over an incredible career.
There are few footballers who could recall such memories to their kids and grandkids. Today Sylvinho is a coach, he has worked in technical teams and as a head coach for 10 years now and has collaborated with both Brazil coach Tite and Italy’s Roberto Mancini. Now back in Europe, we at Tribalfootball.com had the chance to talk with Sylvinho, touching on a wide range of topics.
And the former Barcelona star has clear ideas: “I feel very ready to manage a club and I don’t have preferences. In fact my priority is to find a serious project, with serious planning. We received a few offers but we couldn’t find an agreement.”
When Sylvinho says “we”, he is referring to Nicola Giuliani of management company Giuliani Sports. Italian agent Giuliani, who recently opened an office in London, has long supported Sylvinho in his coaching career. And as the Brazilian says, the pair are now actively inviting new coaching offers.
But beyond today’s aims, the former wing-back was happy to wax lyrical on his career, his influences and where football has taken him.
Asked to name the coach who influenced him the most, Sylvinho admit he’s spoilt for choice.
“Pretty much all the great managers I had during my career. Admittedly Tite and Roberto Mancini were the most influential ones for me because I had more time to work with them.”
Surely Tite had a key role in his career?
“I had already the chance to work with Tite during my Corinthians stint in 2013. We immediately had a great professional relationship and as Tite says we learned together. It was a time of great study and professional development. When Tite was selected to guide the national team, he called me to work with the staff, but from Europe, because most of our potential athletes play on the European continent. We didn’t manage to win the World Cup but it was an extraordinary experience all the same. I could go as far as saying that we were one of the best four teams in 2018.”
While with Brazil, Sylvinho worked closely with Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino: “Roberto comes from the midfield and really became a striker at Liverpool. He is a very technical and smart player.”
Always keeping an eye on Selecao talent, Sylvinho nominates three youngsters capable of big things in Qatar.
“(Roger) Ibanez is a young (Roma) defender who is undoubtedly doing very well and I’m sure that he will keep improving under (Jose) Mourinho’s guidance. Neither of (Gabriel) Martinelli nor (Gabriel) Magalhaes (both of Arsenal) were on our World Cup watchlist, but of course they were young back then. They have really come a long way in the past couple of years. Great athletes with a lot of quality and physical strength.”
We then took a few steps back in his career, first we talked about Arsenal.
“Arsenal are having an incredible season and that’s thanks to the great work done throughout all levels: the directors, the manager and the coaching staff and obviously the players as well. The Premier League is a very tough and challenging league but we can definitely say that Arsenal are serious candidates for the title this year.”
His former teammate Edu Gaspar is now working for Arsenal as technical director.
“Edu and the whole board are very happy right now. As I was saying before, everyone has been doing a great job as of now. The new signings are adapting really well to the club and to Mikel Arteta‘s ideas. I can feel a great atmosphere in the club.”
Then we talked about Manchester City, the team where he ended his football career.
“I’m really proud about how serious and well-planned the project of City has been. The club has really grown with time and a lot of work and planning.”
Back in his time with City, could he have predicted what the club would evolve into?
“Back then one couldn’t have imagined where that project was heading towards because everything was new. We’ve had to wait a little bit of time to see the results. Nowadays we really see how big Manchester City‘s project was.”
At City he worked with Mancini, then he followed him to Inter Milan (as part of his staff): “Mancini arrived in the middle of the season and immediately started organising the team. It was very tough and challenging work. Roberto had a clear vision of what the club and the team had to do. He brought athletes and organised the team very well. He ended up winning the title in spectacular fashion, during the last minutes of the final game.”
An important part of his career was at Barcelona: with the Blaugrana he managed to win the Champions League twice, three LaLigas, twice the Supercopa de España and one Copa del Rey.
“It was a great experience for me to play with Barcelona for five years. We won many titles and had a lot of fun, too. Xavi has always been an extraordinary person with a lot of love for the game. I really wish all the best to him and this family.”
On Sunday, the first El Clasico of the season was held, with Real Madrid triumphant. Sylvinho says there’s nothing to compare with the fixture.
“This is literally a classic of football as a whole. That match has such a different atmosphere around itself. Tons of technical quality on the pitch too, which makes the match even bigger and more attractive for the fans.”
And with this wonderful and open chat coming to an end, we just had to ask Sylvinho if he plans to train Barcelona one day.
“As a manager I want to work in many clubs in the world but you can’t really know it beforehand. In fact, it is often said that it isn’t the manager who chooses the club but the other way around! (laughs)”
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