Boateng: “De Zerbi is better than Guardiola”

In an interview with TV Play, former AC Milan and Barcelona player Kevin-Prince Boateng looked back on his career and spoke about the best coaches and teammates he has had.

Boateng praised Roberto De Zerbi, with whom he played for at Sassuolo. The Brighton boss will have a huge role to play at the highest level and is already on a par with the best, according to the former forward.

“For me, De Zerbi will be the best coach for the next 20-30 years. Every player improves with him, from the second-choice goalkeeper to the striker. I was with him and at the age of 32 I felt even stronger. Better than Pep Guardiola? I would say yes.”

Spell with Milan

The former striker discussed his time with AC Milan and was full of praise for Mario Balotelli. “Leao is very good, but Mario was on another level. We all know what he was capable of. When he was fit he was one of the five best strikers in the world. The only one who came close to the quality of Zlatan Ibrahimovic was Balotelli. For me, he could have won the Ballon d’Or three times.”

At San Siro, Boateng linked up with Max Allegri, with whom he won the Scudetto in 2011 and he added that the Italian coach is doing “a great job” at Juventus. “He doesn’t have the champions at Juventus that he had before, but they will challenge for the Scudetto.”