Malagò: "New head coach? I’ve received lots of messages, I’ll speak to everyone"

ITALY-FBL-ELECTION-FIGC

The new FIGC president is going through hours of great tension after the sensational turn taken by the Pirlo affair

A huge day awaits the president of the Italian Football Federation, Giovanni Malagò as he tries to contain the clear embarrassment caused by the Andrea Pirlo case, and the risk that the national team technical director and Club Italia head Paolo Maldini could resign, along with his collaborator Leonardo. The FIGC president will meet the two men he had entrusted with the project to revive Italian football to understand whether the conditions still exist to continue and, from 6pm, the representatives of the various components ahead of tomorrow's Federal Council.

Malagò in Il Sole 24 Ore

Italy's next head coach is a priority and Giovanni Malagò, speaking at an event organised by Il Sole 24 Ore, addressed the latest developments: "The head coach? Since this morning I have been receiving a huge number of messages. I will speak to everyone as soon as possible, as is only right. For our recovery in terms of competitive credibility at the highest level, where nothing can be taken for granted, you have to work with lads who are now between 13 and 16 years old. That is why you have to change the whole pathway in terms of training, culture, and that also involves the coach. It is a matter of sowing seeds, the ideas are very clear. We are doing it, even amid a thousand complexities, because a transformation is needed. We have to bear in mind that we are a country that used to be football-centric, whereas now we no longer are because there are also many other sports."

Hot hours

Malagò will try to move on from the storm stirred by the high-profile "no" answers from Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola, and the brief spell in which Andrea Pirlo's candidacy, backed by Maldini and Leonardo, took centre stage, by looking for a solution that can give continuity to the technical project launched less than three weeks ago with the appointments wanted by the new Federation president. He is, of course, also preparing an exit plan if he splits from Maldini and Leonardo, and is weighing up Giorgio Chiellini as an alternative technical director, with one of Antonio Conte and Roberto Mancini on the Azzurri bench.