New West Ham United boss Gianfranco Zola has taken a swipe at Italian football.

"Whatever you say, English football is so much better than Italian football," the former Napoli star told the Observer. "In the 1990s we were a model for everyone and now we are really going down. It's very sad. We are paying the price for having bad people involved in football. They really ruined something, they broke the spirit.

"They didn't care about the football, they cared about themselves. When there's money involved you think about winning, no matter how you win. It's always the same story - when there's too much money, principles are put apart. If the money comes for the good of the game I welcome the money, I'm not stupid. But it has to be for the good of the game."