Fabrizio Ravanelli: 'I don't want to be pretentious, but I'd score 60 goals a season now' - Middlesbrough legend on the modern game and his coaching ambitions

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Peering across at his enviable collection of medals and trophies, a mischievous grin breaks out across the face of Fabrizio Ravanelli.

We are discussing the market value of strikers in a summer when Romelu Lukaku has joined Manchester United for £75million and Alvaro Morata’s transfer to Chelsea may also pass the £70m mark.

He says: ‘I don’t want to be pretentious, but I scored 34 goals for Juventus in the 1995-96 season and then 31 the next season with Middlesbrough. Nowadays, I’d score 60 goals a season, 50 for sure.

Fabrizio Ravanelli thinks defender quality is weaker nowadays, and he could score 60 a season

Ravanelli, now 48, shows off his trademark celebration by the pool at his Perugia home

Ravanelli won the Champions League but is known in England for his spell at Middlesbrough

‘Once upon a time, it was difficult to score a goal. Now it’s easy. The great defenders are finished. There are no more Nestas, Maldinis or Stams. In every game you have five or six chances. It used to be one or two, maximum three.’

So what would Ravanelli, a Champions League and UEFA Cup winner with Juventus, be worth today? Perhaps £80m, as a conservative estimate? 

‘This is sure. Not just me but Gianfranco Zola, Eric Cantona, Teddy Sheringham, we’d all score more these days,' he says.

‘My son watches my goals on television. He says “Daddy, so-and so has scored 12 goals and he’s going for €50m” How does this happen? I needed to score 28 goals for two seasons in a row to play for Italy. Now you’re called up if you score four goals in 10 games.’

Ravanelli poses with a collection of trophies, medals and memories from his playing career

The Italian has a blown up front cover from a Boro fanzine - featuring him - framed at home

Ravanelli thinks strikers have it easy today, but expressed his admiration for Zlatan Ibrahimovic

His modern-day favourite is Zlatan Ibrahimovic: ‘I love him. Nothing scares him. He is strong, he struts, technically brilliant, powerful personality, everything. You can tell he loves it. When you’re on the pitch, you have to believe you are the best.

‘I scored a hat-trick in my first game at the Riverside against Liverpool. I felt invincible. I was the king! My name was on every newspaper. Every player who saw me would copy my celebration and put their shirt over their head. I wanted people to remember my performances. It’s how the best strikers should be.’

Twenty-one years have passed since Ravanelli arrived in England in a jaw-dropping transfer. The Brazilians Juninho and Emerson were the first to arrive on Teesside and then came the Penna Bianca (The White Feather). Chairman Steve Gibson invested £7m - at the time the third-highest transfer fee paid by an English club - and committed to a £42,000-per-week salary.

Instinctively recognisable from that thin layer of silver hair, Ravanelli is glorious company, profoundly knowledgeable but with a sense of fun that eludes many players. 

‘Let’s go down to the pool and recreate my celebration,’ he suggests, playfully lifting his T-shirt over his head and sending his arms outwards and upwards. ‘Let me show everyone that you can still be lean at the age of 48.’ 

Among the photos from Ravanelli's career include one with legendary player Diego Maradona

Ravanelli remains supremely fit, spending three hours a day on his bike and competing on the amateur road-racing circuit in the Italian mountains. High up in the Umbrian hills, Ravanelli is providing a walking tour of his mountain ranch set amid 20 acres of his own land.

The living room walls are adorned by a treasure trove of snapshots from a colourful career, including one with Diego Maradona and another with the Pope. Down in the gym, he unveils a canvas of the Boro magazine that announced his arrival.

‘Crazy,’ he smiles, ‘I scored in the Champions League final win over Ajax. I felt it was impossible to leave Juventus because I was the best player in the world. I was angry Juventus even considered selling me. So I decided to leave Italy altogether. 

'I met Bryan Robson in Milan. Parma were the big European project; a little club with big names, second in Serie A. Robson said: “We want to be the English Parma”.’

Ravanelli played just one season for Boro, but scored 31 goals as they reached two cup finals

The striker's trademark celebration became a well known and loved feature in England

Boro were relegated in Ravanell's only season, and he is scathing about the team's defence

Ravanelli hit hat-tricks against Liverpool and Derby, and scored against Sunderland and Newcastle, as well as at home to Manchester United. He combined to devastating effect with Juninho, who the Italian describes as his ‘best-ever team-mate’.

‘We would sometimes eat at the Purple Onion,’ Ravanelli recalls. ‘There was an Italian chef there, so the pasta and steak was actually very good. I remember there were places advertising Ravanelli and Juninho burgers.’

Boro scored 51 league goals - only five clubs scored more - yet still contrived to be relegated. The club were runners-up in the League Cup and FA Cup. ‘The defence,’ he grimaces. 

Italian newspaper Gazzetta Dello Sport had described the signing of Ravanelli as the equivalent of ‘buying a Ferrari without having a garage’.

He grins: ‘If you buy Ravanelli and Juninho, you need a garage to keep them safe. When we started the season, we didn’t have a goalkeeper. Well, we did but I am truly very sorry for him as he was not for the top level. I don’t remember his name, but honestly, honestly...’

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. Alan Miller and Gary Walsh were the unfortunate men keeping goal.

Ravanelli calls Juninho his 'best team mate' and praises Bryan Robson and Steve Gibson

He continues: ‘The defenders, not for the Premier League. First game, Ravanelli hat-trick and the defenders let three goals in. Juninho and I scored a lot of goals, even Mikkel Beck scored sometimes!

‘In one year, I went four, five, six times, to speak to the manager and chairman: “Please, please buy a defender!” In mid-season, they got Gianluca Festa, Vladimir Kinder and Mark Schwarzer. If we had them from the start, 100 per cent there would be no relegation.’

Ravanelli was outspoken about his new surroundings, particularly the club’s diet and training. Yet as we listen now, it becomes clear that he was ahead of his time.

‘There was no training ground - we trained in the public park and the local prison. I didn’t want to be the troublemaker. I have only one face but I’m honest. 

'I said “I come from Juventus, I win the Champions League, and now I am training at a park as I believe in your project but please, show me the respect and try to build the new training ground.”

‘Look at them now - Boro are in the top 10 for facilities in England. The chairman is brilliant, a big, intelligent man and has created something special.’

Ravanelli begged Robson to sign new defenders; he also convinced the club to hire a new chef

Ravanelli convinced the club to hire an Italian chef for the squad for away games for the final months of the season.

‘I took my own pasta for pre-match meals, everyone else was previously having eggs and baked beans. My old coaches from Juventus would send training programmes to me by fax. I got very angry because sometimes players would take a day off. The first thing is discipline and respect.

‘This was the only Ravanelli problem in 1996. I was ultra-professional and wanted to win for Gibson.

‘Fans pay to see us win football matches, not lose games. You don’t go away drinking or say “I’m injured today, no training”. My life was at home, with my wife and kids. It was impossible for me to go out drinking and come back at 5am. I didn’t like it if a player got drunk. Many times myself and Juninho spoke with some guys about it.

‘At home now, I don’t have any alcohol - no wine, no beer, no whisky. No smoking. Never, ever. It is my gladiator culture. Everyone has their way of life, but my house, my rules. I don’t want my wife or sons to be drunk in my home. That is impossible. My son is 22 but can’t drink here. He takes a shower before he comes home after drinking in case I smell it. Nobody will be drunk in my house!’ 

After leaving Boro for Marseille, Ravanelli later came back to the Premier League with Derby

After relegation, Ravanelli departed. ‘Sir Alex Ferguson called my agent a couple of months into my time at Boro but they blocked it. Liverpool boss Roy Evans called my personal phone and Tottenham chairman Alan Sugar called my agent. 

'I went to Marseille - the biggest mistake I made was to leave England. I eventually returned with Derby - it is the best football in the world.’

After working in the Juventus youth system and managing for three months at Ajaccio in France, he has instructed British agent Craig Honeyman to secure a return. He has shadowed the work of leading Italian coaches Massimiliano Allegri and Claudio Ranieri and spent time with Chelsea’s Antonio Conte last winter. The pair were team-mates at Juventus. 

‘The best manager in the world. Every player eats lunch together - salmon, rice, nuts, pasta; no eggs and beans! He turned Juventus around with a fantastic mentality, players give him 100 per cent. Chelsea score and he’s in with the fans, he’s almost crying with them! This is the Italian passion. I would be similar, and I know each player has his own needs.

‘The level is not important. Football runs through my blood. I would do a very good job. League Two, even, I am open. I had the chance to go to Leyton Orient for the last seven games last season. I thought hard about helping a historic English club in great need, but I could see the owner was crazy and it was a difficult situation. If the programme is good, I would run there now. My present and future will be England.’ 

Ravanelli says he now wants to enter coaching and is happy to manage a lower league team