Brain drain of coaches, players keeps Serie A in the doldrums

ROME - Italy's Serie A was once the European superpower in soccer, the richest league in the world that attracted the most talented and highest paid players on the planet.

But while it has been well documented that Serie A has been overtaken by both the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga on the playing front, to the point that it struggles to attract top foreign stars anymore, there is another talent drain that has also affected the country.

Italy can boast some of the best and most famous coaches in the world such as Marcello Lippi, the 2006 World Cup winning coach currently unemployed, Fabio Capello, the legendary ex-AC Milan boss who enjoyed success in Italy and Spain and is now England manager, or the great Giovanni Trapattoni, who led Juventus to the pinnacle of Serie A, at this moment the Republic of Ireland manager.