Italy set to appoint legendary player as next manager after Pep Guardiola turned down role

Italy will appoint legendary midfielder Andrea Pirlo as the country’s new manager, according to local reports.

Pirlo was a key part of Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning side and played for Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus in a gloried playing career. He also coached Juventus, as well as Sampdoria and Turkish side Fatih Karagumruk, before his current role in charge of Dubai United.

Pirlo will sign a four-year contract, taking him to the 2030 World Cup, Italian publication La Repubblica reported.

Italian ⁠football is facing one of its deepest crises in decades, and the ⁠appointment of a new national team coach is seen as the first step in a wider effort to ‌rebuild a youth development ​and talent pathway system that has deteriorated ‌significantly in a country where football ​remains a national obsession.

Gennaro Gattuso resigned as Italy head coach in April after the four-time world champions failed to qualify for a third World Cup in a row.

The news comes after Pep Guardiola turned down the chance to coach Italy.

Italian football federation president Giovanni Malago had confirmed talks with Guardiola were underway this week. The former Manchester City manager had been in talks with the Italian Football Federation over the role, but rejected the position due to “personal reasons that go beyond football”, Sky Italy reported.

Guardiola said before his City exit that he wasn’t planning on taking a new job “for a while”, citing a lack of “energy” – just as his rival Jurgen Klopp said when he departed Liverpool. Klopp, 59, was on Friday unveiled as the new head coach of Germany, which is his first managerial position since leaving Liverpool two years ago. Klopp has said he feels “recharged”.

Klopp, meanwhile, has signed a four-year contract with Germany that will see him take charge of the team at Euro 2028 and the 2030 World Cup.

“The national team brings us Germans together like almost nothing else can. That's what makes this task so special for me,” Klopp said at his unveiling in Frankfurt on Friday morning.

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