AS Roma's decision to appoint Jose Mourinho as the club's new manager next season has been criticised by former Italian footballer Paulo Di Canio.
Earlier this week, Roma announced that Mourinho, who was relieved of his duties by Tottenham Hotspur last month, had been appointed by the club to replace Paulo Fonseca as head coach at the start of next season.
The Portuguese tactician will return to Italy for the first time since winning a remarkable league, cup and UEFA Champions League treble with Inter Milan in 2010, but his appointment has not been well received by all quarters.
Former footballer Di Canio, who was born in Rome and played for the likes of Lazio, Juventus, Napoli and AC Milan, was particularly critical of Mourinho and accused the two-time Serie A Coach of the Year of chasing money by joining the club.
"Mourinho is the worst of the worst..." the 52-year-old said in a leaked voice note, per AS. "I understand the need to hire a great name, but this is the same as choosing a great player at the end of his career.
"Mourinho just wanted a job for money, but it is worth remembering that in the last four years he was fired three times, forced to leave all of his clubs due to incompatibility with all of them.
"He doesn't even play football, but anti-football. Journalists may love his interviews because they will cause controversy, but let me tell you, to rebuild the team, he was the worst coach they [Roma] could have gone to.
"And I feel free to say this because he was my favourite [coach] until seven years ago."
Scroll through the gallery below to see where Mourinho could rank among Serie A's highest-paid managers next season