Dead Ventrone, the former Juventus athletic trainer

The world of football is in mourning for the death, at the age of 62, of Gian Piero Ventrone, caused by a lightning attack of leukemia.

The Tottenham athletic trainer died in Naples, the city where he was born in 1960, in a bed in the Fatebenefratelli hospital.

Ventrone had been hospitalized on the evening of 4 October in the intensive care unit.

In the past Ventrone had linked to Juventus with Marcello Lippi on the bench.

Nicknamed the 'marine', due to the harshness of the training sessions to which he subjected the players available, he worked in the Juventus club in two different periods: from 1994 to 1999 and from 2001 to 2004. After having closed the experience in Turin, Ventrone collaborated with Lippi in the preparation of the 2006 World Cup, won by Italy.

He then moved to Corsica,

as assistant coach of Ajaccio, in the 2013/14 season, called by Fabrizio Ravanelli;

the following year he was coach of Catania, before flying to China and following the path opened by Lippi years earlier.

Ventrone joined Jiangsu Suning and later Guangzhou Evergrande, with Fabio Cannavaro as coach.

Since November of last year, Antonio Conte had called him to London to take care of the preparation of Tottenham.

The footballers feared him, his training methods recall the past among the 'lagoon', elite corps of the San Marco Battalion.

He went down in history for having introduced new training equipment and for having placed a bell in the middle of the gym, explaining the reasons: "I call it the bell of shame. The concept must be clear to everyone: in this sport there is no limit".

The players, who trained on the notes of Queen or Nirvana, but above all with the background of the Full Metal Jacket soundtrack, could ring the bell before stopping, ratifying their surrender in front of their teammates.

"If a player resists him, it's special," Zidane said of him.

Recently, on social media, a video went viral in which Harry Kane vomits after a training session: an event caused by the athletic stress to which he had been subjected.

"We spent a lot of time together in China, especially during the period of Covid - this is how Prof. Enrico Castellacci, head of the health staff of the 2006 world champion national team remembers -. I knew him very well and appreciated him a lot, for his meticulousness and great professionalism. He carried military values ​​with him, as well as an innate sense of honor and discipline. After all, he really was military. At the table we joked and he always made us hear the hymn of the green berets. avant-garde, he always studied: I asked him 'what are you doing?', maybe we had the morning off, and he 'I have to study'.

But in the end, it gave the right inputs.

The footballers felt it, with that particular marine air.

Antonio Conte has always seen in him the figure of the great coach.

We will really miss Gian Piero.

It seems so strange to me that he is no longer there, with that smile of his. "The funeral home, the family says on Instagram, was set up in the Fatebenefratelli in Naples, until Saturday, and will remain open from 8.30 to 18, 30. The funeral will take place in the church of San Luigi Gonzaga, in Naples, at 3 pm on Sunday.

let the family know on Instagram, it was set up in the Fatebenefratelli in Naples, until Saturday, and will remain open from 8.30 to 18.30.

The funeral will take place in the church of San Luigi Gonzaga, in Naples, at 3 pm on Sunday.

let the family know on Instagram, it was set up in the Fatebenefratelli in Naples, until Saturday, and will remain open from 8.30 to 18.30.

The funeral will take place in the church of San Luigi Gonzaga, in Naples, at 3 pm on Sunday.