Ribery mulling Salernitana managerial role

Coach Nicola says they have spoken about possibility as knee injury pushes star striker towards retirement

ROME:

Franck Ribery could take up a managerial position at Salernitana as a persistent knee injury pushes the former France star towards retirement, his coach Davide Nicola said Saturday.

Asked by reporters about Ribery potentially remaining at Salernitana after he finishes playing, Nicola said: "when you talk about Franck you're talking about someone with the ability to do anything."

"I don't know if anything has been worked out, but we have spoken with him about it," added Nicola in a press conference ahead of his team's match with Verona on Sunday.

On Friday, Ribery's agent Davide Lippi told AFP that the 39-year-old will "very likely" end his career, adding that "he is thinking about it".

Both the player and the club have remained tight-lipped on the subject but Italian media say that the announcement could come as early as next week.

Ribery hasn't featured for Salernitana, who he joined in 2021, since their opening day loss to Roma and both Il Mattino and L'Equipe report that injuries have led him to decide it's time to hang up his boots.

A World Cup runner-up with France in 2006, his greatest successes came at Bayern Munich, where over 12 seasons he won nine league titles and the 2013 Champions League.