Italian Football Federation President admits "exceptions" regarding Pep Guardiola's salary if he takes the job
Pep Guardiola is being courted by the Italian Football Federation to become their new head coach.
Giovanni Malagò, President of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) since last month, has admitted that "financial exceptions" may be made to hire Pep Guardiola as new head coach of the Italian national team, referring to his salary, although he added that "it is not certain his hiring will trough", and stated that there are many other candidates being considered, even beyond Guardiola and the other two names being rumoured, Roberto Mancini and Andrea Pirlo.
Malagò spoke with the podcast Cronache di Spogliatoio that talks with Guardiola are "by no means a lack of respect towards other candidates, with whom discussions have already begun, adding another name would in no way detract from the process" (via ESPN).
The President also admitted that with "financial and budgetary considerations, to say that we'll have to tighten our belts is an understatement" in the short-medium term. However, he said that "some exceptions have been made", relating to the name that is so dominant at the moment", referring to Guardiola's salary, who would be higher than other candidates after coming from ten hugely successful years at Manchester City, and previous stints at Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
Besides Guardiola, the other two candidates that have been rumoured are Roberto Mancini, former Italian head coach between 2018 and 2023 who won the UEFA Euro 2020 trophy (in 2021) and legendary former midfielder Andrea Pirlo, who coached Juventus between 2020 and 2021 and is now working for Dubai United.
However, according to ESPN, Guardiola does indeed wants to take a sabbatical and has rejected the offer from Italy. The Azzurri are currently without a coach since Gennaro Gattuso resigned in April after failing to qualify for World Cup.
