Gianluigi Buffon has dealt a heavy blow to the Italian Football Federation, rejecting an offer to return to the senior national team's coaching staff as the Azzurri endure one of the darkest periods in their history.
According to "La Gazzetta dello Sport", Paolo Maldini, the Federation's technical director, contacted Buffon directly with an operational role in the "Club Italia" project, the body that oversees all of the national teams.
Maldini was banking on the goalkeeper's popularity and vast experience to lead the rebuild after the disaster of the World Cup qualifying play-off defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Buffon is, after all, the most capped player in Italy's history and the last goalkeeper to be crowned world champion. He also knows the current generation inside out.
He had held the role of national team coordinator before, only to resign alongside coach Gennaro Gattuso and Federation president Gabriele Gravina after Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third straight time last March.
The legend studied the offer seriously. Still, he told Maldini the timing was wrong, preferring to maintain the distance from the game he has kept since leaving last April, devoting himself to his family and completing his studies as he prepares for a future in management.