Gaetano Berardi has left the door open for a return to Leeds United in a coaching capacity - one day. The Whites are currently searching for a new boss following Sam Allardyce's departure after his four-game rescue mission ended in failure as the club slipped out of the Premier League and back into the Championship.
It is too early for Elland Road hero Berardi to throw his hat into the ring, with the 34-year-old Swiss defender planning to take his coaching badges in Italy after announcing his retirement from playing this week. But Berardi would be interested in a return to Leeds one day, after becoming a fan favourite in his seven-year spell in Yorkshire during which he helped Marcelo Bielsa's side win promotion to the Premier League and then finish ninth in their first top flight campaign in more than a decade and a half.
Asked whether there is a possibility of a return in the long-term, Berardi told BBC Radio Leeds: "I will start in Italy with the coaching badges and then I will see. "I am not sure what I will find but I don't want to talk about my future.
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"I will take my next step and then I will see. Of course I will keep in contact with Leeds, I will follow them and maybe one day there is a chance to come back in some way because also I don't want to forget the people who are still there, my old teammates because they are great people, they are great guys.
"I know they are suffering in the last period so I want to send my love to them, to my old teammates and all the people because this time is not the best [for the club] but they have to come back and push again."
Berardi made more than 150 appearances for Leeds in all competitions before leaving two years ago to join Swiss side Scion.
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