Serie A club Genoa appointed the 2004 Ballon d’Or recipient as the head coach on November 7 to replace the outgoing Davide Ballardini.
At the time of Shevchenko’s appointment, the club was already in the relegation zone at the 18th position with one win, six draws and five defeats. With the appointment of the former AC Milan striker, the oldest club of Italy was expected to bounce back in fashion but has failed to win a single league match in the past couple of months.
The solitary win under Shevchenko came in the Coppa Italia as Genoa beat Salernitana 1-0 and have a tough Round of 16 fixture against giants AC Milan as the challenge of his former team will haunt the Ukrainian legend amidst the relegation battle. It is highly likely that the Genoa manager would not be sacked before their fixture at the San Siro as Shevchenko fans will be flouting to the stadium to witness their legend in the opposition technical area.
As per Italian media outlet Telenord, the board is pondering over the sacking of the manager after handing him a contract till June 2024 only a couple of months back. Predecessor Ballardini is the favourite to take the job for his fifth stint as Genoa manager, with Rolando Maran also in running.
On January 4, Polish media outlet Onet reported that Polish Football Association Chairman Cezary Kulesza is set to start talks with Shevchenko to take over the currently vacant Poland head coach job.
Poland’s former coach Paulo Sousa left for Flamengo on New Year’s Eve, just three months ahead of their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Russia, with Kulesza branding Sousa’s request of leaving at the critical juncture as “extremely irresponsible.”
It will be interesting to see what lies in store for the Ukrainian footballing legend nicknamed ‘Sheva’ by the fans who must be rooting for him to unite with one of the most lethal modern strikers in Robert Lewandowski.
Though, Ukraine and Atalanta midfielder Ruslan Malinovskiy has backed Shevchenko to be given more team as Genoa head coach, as quoted by Sport UA.
”Everyone knows how tough the situation is. There are a lot of injuries to his players, not to mention that he tested positive for COVID shortly after taking over.
It is not easy to get the team on track within two or three months. He needs time. The same was at the national camp. It took us time to understand his vision in full.”
In 1999, AC Milan came calling for the rising star, and Shevchenko ended up spending his prime years in Italy, winning a solitary Serie A title, Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italia, UEFA Champions League title and UEFA Super Cup as well.
In 2006, he joined Chelsea, but age caught up with him as he could only score 9 goals in 2 seasons for the London-based club before spending a goalless season back in Milan, and hanging up his boots after a second spell with Dynamo.
Since his retirement, Shevchenko has served as the assistant manager of the Ukraine national football team before taking over the reins in 2016 and leading his nation to the quarter-final stage for the first time in history, where they lost to eventual runners-up England.
