Guardiola meets Maldini and Leonardo in Barcelona to discuss Italy job | OneFootball

Italy’s new-look federation is making a genuine attempt to lure Pep Guardiola into the national team dugout, with Paolo Maldini and Leonardo having met the Catalan coach in person over the weekend.

According to Sky Sport, via CalcioMercato, the two FIGC executives flew to Barcelona and held direct talks with the former Manchester City boss to sound him out about the head coach role.

The meeting is said to have run across the entire weekend, with the pair’s presence in Spain captured in social-media selfies and snaps. The substance and outcome of the discussions have been kept under wraps, but a concrete approach has clearly been made.

Manchester City’s Spanish manager Pep Guardiola gestures on the touchline during the UEFA Champions League, league phase football match between Manchester City and Inter Milan at the Etihad stadium, in Manchester, north-west England, on September 18, 2024 (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Malagò holds the key as Guardiola talks raise the stakes

The decisive factor now lies with Giovanni Malagò, who will have to sanction a far heavier financial commitment than the federation has so far been willing to make.

Speaking to Sky Sport, the FIGC president had earlier confirmed the existence of alternatives to Roberto Mancini and Andrea Pirlo while stressing the budgetary constraints, comments that read very differently in light of the Barcelona summit.

“Beyond Mancini and Pirlo there could be other names,” Malagò said. “To those who say take a big shot, I say , even if he were interested, what are his demands? And are they compatible with our accounts? On the books I have the sum left from Gattuso’s salary, a thousand miles from any wishes of the big shot.” Any such outlay, he suggested, could only be feasible in the 2027 financial year.

The revelation reframes what had appeared a two-man race. Where Mancini and Pirlo represent attainable, budget-conscious options, the pursuit of Guardiola, one of the game’s most decorated and expensive coaches, signals genuine ambition from Maldini and Leonardo, even if squaring it with the federation’s finances remains a formidable obstacle.