Italy are reportedly after star coach Pep Guardiola to get the national team back on track after three missed World Cups.
Sky Italia reported that new technical director Paolo Maldini and adviser Leonardo visited Guardiola in Barcelona on the weekend to talk about a possible engagement.
The report said there was no tendency whether Guardiola was willing to take the job shortly after the end of his decade-long spell at the helm of Manchester City.
Four-time winners Italy failed in March for the third time in a row to qualify for the World Cup, resulting in the exit of coach Gennaro Gattuso, team official Gianluigi Buffon and national federation FIGC president Gabriele Gravina.
Former Italian Olympic Committee president and Milan/Cortina Winter Games chiewf organizer Giovanni Malagò has been elected new FIGC president and he won AC Milan and Azzurri legend Maldini as technical director.
The coaching position must still be filled, and getting Guardiola would be a major coup. Guardiola won three Champions Leagues with City and Barcelona and 12 national titles with the two sides and Bayern Munich.
Malagò did not want to comment to Sky on Guardiola but said it could be that the list of potential candidates is not only made up of Roberto Mancini and Andrea Pirlo who appeared to be the frontrunners.
Mancini coached Italy to the Euro 2021 title during a term from 2018 to 2023. Pirlo played when Italy won their last world title in 2006 but has had no big success as coach at Juventus and Sampdoria.
