Maldini reveals Italy's targets: Guardiola and Ancelotti in sight

Italy's football federation is pursuing top-tier international coaches, including Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti, to lead the national team. Paolo Maldini, the federation's technical director, confirmed that both coaches are among the targets for the vacant Azzurri manager position.

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Guardiola? We can't give news, you have identified one of the objectives, but we have also spoken with Ancelotti. It seemed right to start with the best in the world, but we have to verify their general availability.

Maldini stated that while Guardiola is "one of the objectives," the federation has also spoken with Ancelotti. He emphasized the importance of aiming for the world's best coaches but acknowledged the need to confirm their general availability. The FIGC aims to resolve the selection process quickly, ideally within the week, but is prepared to wait for their preferred candidate.

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The ideal would be to appoint the coach this week, but it is even more so to wait for the person we really want. There is haste, but in the end not so much.

"When Italy calls, it's hard to say no," Maldini remarked, expressing a sense of responsibility and ambition for the project. He also revealed his personal efforts to bring former player Leonardo on board as a sports advisor. Leonardo echoed the urgency, stressing their shared vision and desire to appoint the new coach as soon as possible.

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I feel a great responsibility and pressure, there is an ambitious project here. It is a call to arms, when Italy calls it is difficult to say no. I did not know the initial difficulties, but I felt the possibility of doing things and the will of everyone to participate in the renewal.

The search for a new coach follows Gennaro Gattuso's resignation in April after Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup. The federation is reportedly willing to make a budgetary exception to secure Guardiola, though an agreement remains uncertain. The discussions took place during a meeting between FIGC officials and Serie A club directors in Milan.

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Paolo and I are accomplices of dreams and ideas for many years now. This strong proposal came to him that, over the days, became his dream and, therefore, mine too.