Italy Pursues Pep Guardiola as Head Coach with Financial Exceptions

Italy’s search for a new head coach has moved into bolder, more expensive territory, with Pep Guardiola now firmly at the centre of the Azzurri’s plans.

Giovanni Malagò, president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), has confirmed that financial “exceptions” are being prepared to try to lure the former Manchester City manager into the national-team job.

Guardiola walked away from City at the end of last season after a decade that reshaped English football: six Premier League titles, three FA Cups, five League Cups and a Champions League crown. With Barcelona and Bayern Munich already on his glittering CV, he is currently free of club commitments and, crucially for Italy, open to talks.

Those talks, according to reports earlier this week, have already taken place with the FIGC. The vacancy has been open since April, when Gennaro Gattuso resigned following Italy’s failure to qualify for a third consecutive major tournament – a staggering slide for a four-time World Cup winner.

Against that backdrop, Malagò has authorised the federation to stretch itself.

“[Financial] exceptions have been made, exceptions that for example may concern the name that is so overbearing in these hours: Pep Guardiola,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport. “Exceptions for obvious reasons that I am not here to explain, but it is not certain that this thing will go through.”

The message is clear: Italy are willing to bend their own financial framework to test Guardiola’s resolve, but there are no guarantees he will accept.

Guardiola is not the only name on the table. Roberto Mancini, the man who delivered Euro 2020 glory at Wembley, is in the frame for a sensational return. Andrea Pirlo, the former Azzurri playmaker and World Cup winner, is also being considered as part of a more generational, visionary option.

Asked directly whether the shortlist stopped at Guardiola, Mancini and Pirlo, Malagò pushed back.

“Absolutely not. We think about a certain profile and certainly these names fall into that category,” he said.

So the profile is set: a coach with stature, a defined footballing idea and the authority to drag a fallen giant back to the top table. Italy are reaching for the very best. The question now is whether Guardiola is willing to swap the week-to-week theatre of club football for the long, unforgiving cycles of the international game – and whether the FIGC’s “exceptions” are rich enough, and convincing enough, to make him say yes.