Substitutes on Maldini's Table: Guardiola's Condition Threatens to Derail His Appointment as Italy Coach!

Italian football is tearing it up and starting again. The senior national team have failed to reach a World Cup for the third time running, and the fallout has already claimed head coach Gennaro Gattuso, federation president Gabriele Gravina, and team director Gianluigi Buffon.

The Azzurri reached the "final" of the European play-offs for World Cup qualification, only to lose to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties after a one-all draw.

Last June brought fresh faces at the top. Giovanni Malagò took over as the new president of the Italian federation, and the legendary Paolo Maldini stepped in as technical director.

Maldini has now travelled to Barcelona to meet Pep Guardiola, according to Sky Italia, hoping to convince him to coach the Italian national team. The approach comes after Guardiola's departure from Manchester City and his comments a few days ago that he wanted a quiet life after leaving the club.

La Gazzetta dello Sport have revealed Pep Guardiola's conditions for agreeing to coach the Italian national team, ahead of the return of Paolo Maldini and his adviser Leonardo to Italy. Optimism over completing the deal remains slim.

It is no longer a secret that the former Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City manager is the first choice. The federation have presented a comprehensive project that places "Pep" as the priority in everything, opening the door to a new philosophy for Italian football that starts with the youth teams.

Maldini and Leonardo have assured Guardiola he would be granted as much time as possible in Barcelona while he takes on the task of rebuilding the Italian national team. There is a snag. The Catalan coach wants 20 million euros per year, double the 10 million the federation have budgeted.

According to the Italian newspaper, Maldini and Leonardo will meet the president in Milan today to thrash out the new project for Italian football. On paper, though, there is no coach in place right now.

Guardiola remains the priority. Even so, the Italian Federation have lined up several alternatives should the deal collapse, not least because of the Spaniard's hefty demands.

Should the move to sign Guardiola fall through, Andrea Pirlo currently sits ahead of Roberto Mancini and Antonio Conte in the pecking order. That ranking could shift, though, and the race will reopen between the names in the running.

Most top-flight clubs favour Conte, according to the report. Pirlo's name drew a distinctly cool response from Maldini, while Mancini insists there has been no contact whatsoever.

Speaking to the cryptocurrency platform "Okx", Pep Guardiola commented on his future career, saying: "Psychologically, I lack nothing. I started coaching at the age of 37, and my whole life has been tied to football. Now I want to try to discover life, and to be happy doing other things unrelated to football. I love my job, but there comes a moment when you feel you need to take a break. Perhaps one day I will wake up and say: 'Right, I want to return to coaching.' I have to feel that I miss it, and I do not feel that now."

The City boss signed off with these words: "I am trying to understand what my life will be like, and I decided to stop because I want to take care of myself a little more. I want to spend more time with my children and with my father, who is 95 years old and still alive. I have turned 56, I am no longer young, and my perspective has changed a little. I am still trying to adapt after retirement, but things are going fairly well."