Josep Guardiola is understood to be keen to become England manager in the future, despite changing his mind about returning to the job in 2024, but is now being targeted by other countries
Josep Guardiola is being courted by the Italian Football Federation (Image: Oscar Del Pozo/AFP)
Italy have reportedly held talks with manager Josep Guardiola in a bid to persuade the former Manchester City manager to become their next manager.
Italy’s national team is in dire need of reform after failing to qualify for the World Cup finals for the third time in a row, but coach Gennaro Gattuso has agreed to step down as head coach following a disappointing loss in the playoffs against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In their search for a new manager, they seem to have found their way to Guardiola, who once paved the way for him to become the national team manager.
Guardiola, 55, left Manchester City at the end of the 2025-26 season after 10 years in charge, but has played down rumors that he could resume his managerial career sooner rather than later.
However, The Times reported that Paolo Maldini, who was appointed technical director of the Italian Football Federation, met with Guardiola for three days in Barcelona over the weekend, along with his advisor Leonardo.
Maldini and Leonardo are said to have a good relationship with Guardiola, and if Guardiola can be brought in to replace Gattuso, it would be a major coup for Italy.
However, the Catalan’s demands are likely to be far more important than those of previous incumbent managers, and his salary is likely to be an obstacle to making him Italy’s next manager.
Italy missed out on the World Cup again this summer and wants Guardiola as their next manager (Image: Claudio Villa/FIGC)
The interest in Guardiola comes just days after it was revealed that Guardiola had reached a verbal agreement with the Football Association to become England’s next manager following Gareth Southgate’s decision to step down after Euro 2024.
However, Guardiola then had a rather dramatic change of heart and ended up staying at Manchester City for a further two years.
Guardiola is said to have expressed his desire to manage England in the future to those close to him. That position is currently held by Thomas Tuchel, who the FA turned to after Guardiola’s U-turn, but the German has been under intense scrutiny over England’s disastrous defeat to Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals.
Although there is some bitterness about England’s decision to drop them after taking the lead against Argentina, Tuchel guided the Three Lions to their best performance in a World Cup final since 1966, when they defeated France 6-4 in the bronze medal final.
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive Mirror Football content every day. Community members also receive special offers, promotions, and advertisements from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check it out whenever you like. If you are interested, please read our privacy notice.
Upgrade your World Cup TV setup with Sky Glass ‘designed for soccer’
From £6
sky
Get the deal here
Shoppers can now upgrade to a Sky smart TV ‘designed for football’ from £6 a month when used with a Sky TV and Netflix package.
