Albion boss Roberto Di Matteo plans to have the last word when he meets Fulham manager Mark Hughes – after revealing the pair began their friendship in silence.

Di Matteo will lock horns with his former Chelsea team-mate when Hughes’ Fulham side visit the Hawthorns on Saturday.

And they will share a post-match drink that is guaranteed to be noisier than their first week together in England.

The Baggies head coach said: “We were room-mates on my first pre-season trip with Chelsea.

“We shared a bungalow at Nigel Mansell’s hotel in Devon. The coaching staff obviously thought ‘we’ll put this young boy with one of the experienced British lads.’

“But communication was a bit of a problem, because I couldn’t speak the language then.

“It was really funny because I couldn’t speak two words of English and he couldn’t speak two words of Italian.”

Having overcome their early communication issues, Hughes and Di Matteo became firm friends during their time together at Stamford Bridge, with the Welshman’s fighting spirit making a big impression on his young Italian team-mate.

But Di Matteo was happy to joke about his abiding memory of working with the former Manchester United and Barcelona striker.

He smiled: “My memory of Mark Hughes is that he was the worst trainer ever.

“If you based your team on training sessions, you would never pick him. There was nothing wrong with his application – just everything else!

“I played with him towards the end of his career but he was still a very good player. He was a great character, a great guy and we had some good times together.

“And he was a pain in the neck to play against. He would bully defenders and really make it hard for them.

“He also scored some brilliant and important goals for us. You could always count on him. He’s someone who you could go to war with.

“You knew he would be backing you up.”

Di Matteo has been impressed with the coaching career of Hughes, who has recruited two more of their mutual friends to his coaching staff at Craven Cottage.

The Albion boss said: “Mark has taken an interesting path into management, because he started off with the Wales job.

“It is unusual to go straight into international football as a coach. But he’s done very well – particularly at Blackburn.

“There’s not only him there, he’s got another old Chelsea team-mate of ours in his backroom staff in Kevin Hitchcock.

“He’s also got Eddie Niedzwiecki, who was our goalkeeping coach.”