Four Decorated Coaches in Contention for Italy Job | OneFootball

With the Serie A coaching carousel getting completed and Massimiliano Allegri headed to Napoli, Antonio Conte and Roberto Mancini are the two frontrunners to guide Italy. Pep Guardiola lingers as a pipe dream, and Claudio Ranieri is a distant fallback, La Gazzetta dello Sport informs.

The new boss will be hired following the FIGC’s general election on June 22nd. Former Italian Olympic Committee head Giovanni Malagò is set to prevail, as he’s garnered enough support already.

Mancini is particularly close to the probable new president, giving him an edge over Conte in the race to take over Italy. In addition, his salary requests are much more manageable. He’s currently helming Al Sadd in Qatar, with which he won the league, but he has an exit clause. He has shown contrition for the way he abruptly left the Azzurri in August 2023.

The former Napoli manager is open to coming back as well. However, he was making €8M in Campania. He’d accept a pay cut, but not a drastic one. He was earning €4.5M thanks to sponsors’ contributions during his previous spell. The Federation would have to get creative to get in that neighborhood again.

Ranieri has recently been fired from Roma. His Giallorossi role had prevented him from taking the job when he was offered before Gennaro Gattuso’s appointment.

Our Take on Italy

The governing body should do everything it can to convince Conte and move on to less convincing options only if he says no. It’d be a terrible look and an awful start for Malagò if Mancini got the nod just because they are friends. Plus, his shortcomings went far beyond his scurrying away for a more lucrative job.