Maldini says Guardiola nearly became Italy coach and ‘even started writing the lineups’
Paolo Maldini has revealed that Pep Guardiola came close to being appointed Italy head coach during the FIGC’s short-lived technical rebuild, a project that collapsed 16 days after Maldini took charge, he told Corriere della Sera.
Maldini and Leonardo resigned from their technical roles at the Italian Football Federation shortly after their appointments, ending the sporting leadership structure intended to oversee a new era for the four-time world champions. The initiative was designed to provide a long-term technical vision following repeated World Cup failures. In the Corriere della Sera interview, Maldini said Guardiola had been involved beyond an initial approach and had participated in detailed planning for Italy’s squads.
"With Guardiola, we studied the squads, from the Under-17s upwards," Maldini said, adding that the Manchester City manager "even started writing the lineups". Maldini said discussions advanced to the point where finances were discussed between the two sides.
On money, Maldini quoted Guardiola as saying: "Give me one euro less than the last national team coach was earning and I'm ready," and stressed that financial terms were not the reason Guardiola declined. Maldini also said Guardiola was fatigued after a long period in the Premier League and was recovering from back surgery: "He was tired after ten exhausting years in the Premier League," Maldini said.
After Guardiola became unavailable, Maldini said his preferred successor was Andrea Pirlo despite concerns about coaching experience. Maldini cited the recent World Cup-winning coaches when defending Pirlo’s candidacy: "What were the credentials of the last two world champion coaches, Scaloni and De la Fuente?" Maldini said, and described Pirlo as "extremely well prepared".
Pirlo’s commercial relationship with Russian betting company Fonbet emerged as a major obstacle to his appointment; Maldini called that controversy "a pretext" and said there was "no legal impediment", adding that Pirlo was prepared to end the relationship. The FIGC moved away from Pirlo and Maldini said disagreements over the independence they were to be given within the project led to his and Leonardo’s resignations: "We submitted our resignations because the necessary conditions of trust no longer existed," Maldini said.
Maldini also confirmed that Thiago Motta "was never among our options." The account of discussions with Guardiola, the Pirlo episode, and the subsequent resignations underline the scale of the plan and its abrupt collapse, and the federation is once again searching for both stability and direction.
