Jose Mourinho on Italy national team rumours: “You don’t need a foreign coach” | OneFootball

Former Roma manager Jose Mourinho has been in the spotlight in recent weeks due to links with Real Madrid. The Portuguese has now spoken to the Italian media about a host of issues and has specifically focused on the links with the Italian national team.

Mourinho spoke to both Sportmediaset and Il Giornale in a detailed chat. He was asked about whether he is interested in a move to the Azzurri and whether there has been contact.

He told Sportmediaset – via La Gazzetta dello Sport, pretty much shutting down any talk of a move.

“Someone asked me if I would coach Italy. You don’t need a foreign coach, you can’t have Ancelotti, okay. But you have Allegri, Conte, and I could name five or six others.”

He also suggested the Italian national team setup to organise more youth tournaments to get rid of their problems, instead of seeking temporary solutions.

“I’ll give you the example of Portugal: come and see how the youth tournaments are organized, what the conditions are. That’s enough to understand and maybe copy. I was with Rui Costa.”

Further, Mourinho indicated Max Allegri as his preferred candidate to take the role at the Italian national team, especially if Giovanni Malago gets appointed as the FIGC president.

He told Sportmediaset: “We didn’t believe our Italy team could be eliminated from the World Cup. Italy needs to rethink everything from the ground up. Mr. Malagò is a strong name, I’d love to, he can change things with his experience, Italy is very strong in many Olympic sports. I’d go with M&M: Malagò and Max.”

Get Italian Football News have already covered the conditions of Allegri’s possible move to the national team. Malago’s appointment at FIGC can dictate that, as he sees the Milan boss as the priority candidate.

Kaustubh Pandey – GIFN