Luciano Spalletti, an Italian champion to revive the Azzurri
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Luciano Spalletti became the oldest coach to win the Italian league title last season at 64 but his vibrancy and the modern, free-wheeling way his teams play belie his advancing years.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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ROME – Luciano Spalletti, crowned Italian champion with Napoli last season, was on Friday handed the task of reviving the Azzurri, five days after Roberto Mancini’s shock resignation as Italy coach.
His main objective will be to help the European champions qualify for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, after Italy missed the 2018 and 2022 editions.
“Let’s welcome Spalletti,” said the Italian football federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina. “The national team needed a great coach and I am very happy that he accepted the technical guidance of the Azzurri.”
The duration of his contract was not specified, but according to the Italian press, it would cover three years until 2026.
The FIGC said Spalletti would be presented officially at the national training centre at Coverciano, near Florence, before Euro 2024 qualifiers against North Macedonia and Ukraine in early September.
Spalletti had been out of a job since he left Napoli,
Negotiations had been complicated because his contract with Napoli, which runs until June 2024, included a clause requiring him to pay compensation of €3 million (S$4.4 million) if he takes up a new position.
Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis had refused to release the Tuscan coach from this obligation.
The FIGC did not specify whether an agreement has been reached with Napoli.
But before thinking about the next World Cup and healing the traumas of a nation, the new Azzurri coach will have to put his team, reigning European champions, back on track for Euro 2024 which will take place in Germany.
Italy are third in Group C with three points after a 2-0 win over Malta and a 2-1 loss to England, who are top with 12 points from four games.
“His enthusiasm and his expertise will be fundamental for the challenges that await Italy in the coming months,” said Gravina.
Spalletti has only a few days to prepare for a complicated trip to Skopje to face North Macedonia on Sept 9, a country that blocked Italy’s path to the World Cup in Qatar, then host Ukraine in Milan three days later. Both are qualifiers.
Like his predecessor, Spalletti will have a major problem to solve, with a limited pool of forwards. The top Italian scorers in Serie A last season, Sassuolo’s Domenico Berardi and Lazio’s Ciro Immobile, managed a mere 12 goals each.
This offensive fragility did not prevent Mancini from winning the European title, 53 years after Italy’s first continental trophy, and going on a 37-match unbeaten run between September 2018 and October 2021, a record for a national team.
Spalletti has a temperament and style which can transform the national side and the credentials to convince his players after a stunning season with Napoli.
He became the oldest coach to win the Italian title last season at 64 but his vibrancy and the modern, free-wheeling way his teams play belie his advancing years.
After a modest playing career as a midfielder in Italy’s third division, he made his mark as a coach in small clubs before leading AS Roma, Inter Milan and even Zenit Saint-Petersburg.
Meanwhile, Mancini, 58, who resigned after five years at the helm citing “a personal decision”, has been touted to take over as Saudi Arabia coach. AFP
