Andrea Pirlo Set to Lead Italy National Team

Andrea Pirlo is edging towards the job he always seemed destined for: the Italy bench.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the current United (UAE) coach has moved to the front of the queue to take charge of the Azzurri, with Paolo Maldini and Leonardo now pushing hard for his appointment after Pep Guardiola turned the role down.

From Guardiola’s No to Pirlo’s Big Chance

Once Guardiola closed the door, Maldini and Leonardo did not waste time. They went straight for Pirlo. Not out of nostalgia, but because he fits the profile the Italian federation now craves: a younger coach, immersed in modern football, willing to listen, share ideas, and work inside a broader technical structure.

That vision has tilted the balance away from more traditional options such as Antonio Conte and Roberto Mancini. The federation wants a bench that looks forward, not back.

Pirlo, still at the start of his coaching career, suddenly finds himself ahead of two men who have already won the European Championship and a Premier League title.

Doubts About Personality, Backed by Power

Not everyone is convinced.

Pirlo has been criticised for lacking the hard edge required to command a complex and demanding dressing room. The Italy squad has never been an easy environment, and the concern is clear: can a coach known for his calm, almost detached demeanour impose himself when the pressure peaks?

Maldini and Leonardo are ready to answer that question with their own presence.

Giovanni Malagò, president of the Italian Olympic Committee, has effectively handed them a major share of responsibility over the national team’s future. They are prepared to act as the shield and, when needed, the hammer. Anyone who challenges Pirlo’s authority will find theirs in the way.

If Pirlo brings the ideas, they will bring the enforcement.

Talks at an Advanced Stage

Negotiations with Pirlo have reached advanced stages, according to the same reports. He is described as eager, even desperate, to throw himself into what is being framed as a revolutionary project the moment he is chosen.

Inside the Italian Football Federation, staff are bracing for a decisive few days. The federal council meets on Tuesday. Officially, its role is only consultative – the statute makes that clear – but the timing is telling. This weekend is expected to be heavy with work, and that council date could easily become the stage for an announcement that would mark a new era.

If all goes as planned, Pirlo will sign a contract running through to the 2030 World Cup. Maldini, though, is thinking beyond one tournament. He sees a long-term rebuild, one that starts far from the spotlight.

Rebuilding From the Roots

The project on the table is not limited to picking squads and drawing up tactics for the next qualifying campaign. It cuts deeper.

The idea is to rebuild Italian football from the age groups of 12 and 13, reshaping development pathways and technical education over a period estimated between eight and ten years. That means a structural rethink, not just a change of coach.

Pirlo would become the face of that revolution, the senior figure at the top of a pyramid that aims to produce a different kind of Italian player by the end of the decade.

The risk is obvious: a coach still learning his trade would be entrusted not only with the senior national team, but with the symbolic role of guiding an entire football culture into a new phase. The reward, if it works, is just as clear.

A Cheaper, Younger Bet

Money also plays its part.

Reports suggest Mancini would have agreed to a salary of around two million euros per year. Pirlo, by contrast, is not expected to earn more than 1.5 million euros per season.

For the federation, that means a younger, more malleable coach on a lower wage, aligned with a broader strategic reset and flanked by two of the most authoritative figures in Italian football history.

The pieces are almost in place. Now the question is simple: will Italy entrust its future to the quiet genius who once dictated games from midfield, and ask him to do the same from the dugout?