Cesc Fabregas is determined to take Como to Serie A after taking over as boss at the Italian club.
The former Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona midfielder, who is an investor in the club along with Thierry Henry, replaced Moreno Longo as interim boss on Monday in what is his first managerial position.
He ended his playing career in the lakeside city last season and was coach of the club’s under-19s before getting the top job.
Como are a club on the rise, having won back-to-back promotions and currently sit sixth in Serie B following a 2019 takeover.
The Spaniard says he does not see the position as a stepping stone for a Premier League job, but a long-term project to get them to the top tier in Italy.
“Obviously, now it is one of the main objectives, 100 per cent,” he said at Web Summit in Lisbon. “Whatever my role is I will always give my best.
“When I joined the club one of the main objectives was to become the coach of Como 1907, I didn’t expect it to come so soon because I retired a little bit earlier, I could still be playing.
“It is an opportunity for me. It is a long-term project, I am not here for two days or two months, it is a long thing. I trust the club, I trust the people, my family has found happiness in Como.
“I feel great, I feel ready. This is something that happened very quickly in the last couple of days.
“I have a lot of respect for the manager that was in charge for the last year and a half. I am used to the pressure, I am used to the requirements that the club wants, I am looking forward to it, it is very, very exciting.”
Mirwan Suwarso, representative of the Como ownership group, said they sacked Longo because data showed they were regressing ahead of the January transfer window.
He has grand plans to turn Como into the “ultimate soccer tourism destination”.
It is an opportunity for me it is a long-term project, I am not here for two days or two months, it is a long thing.
Cesc Fabregas
“We have to rely on data and it showed that as we are heading towards the transfer window we are actually regressing in terms of our performance,” he said.
“So instead of investing heavily in the transfer window in the wrong bloke we had to fix it so that is why we pulled the trigger.
“When we stumbled upon the football club in Como we realised we had a great opportunity. Como is a great destination for tourism but at the same time there is nothing around it.
“So our goal is to build the ultimate soccer tourism destination in the world and Lake Como is the perfect setting for it. It shows, we have been growing extensively.”
