PAOLO MALDINI has quit as Italy’s technical director after just 16 days in the job due to football chiefs’ refusal to hire Andrea Pirlo as the new manager.
Italian football was plunged into chaos as Pirlo, 47, was axed from the running to take over at the Azzurri helm due to links with a Russian betting company amid the war in Ukraine.
That led to Maldini, 58, and his advisor Leonardo resigning from their respective roles.
This comes after the former Italy duo flew to Barcelona last week to meet Pep Guardiola and offer him the job just two months after he rolled credits on a glittering ten-year stint at Manchester City.
Guardiola, 55, kindly declined as he didn’t feel ready to return to management even on a part-time capacity that international football can offer.
Thus, Pirlo emerged as the leading candidate to succeed former team-mate Gennaro Gattuso, who quit in April after Italy missed out on World Cup qualification for the third time in a row.
However, the legendary midfielder’s role as global ambassador for Russian bookmaker Fonbet prompted objections from some Italian Football Federation officials and politicians.
The AC Milan and Juventus icon, who won the World Cup with Italy in 2006 along with Maldini, defended his involvement with the company in an Instagram post.
Pirlo is currently working in the United Arab Emirates where he manages Dubai United.
The former Juve boss signed an ambassadorial agreement with Fonbet in October and said the collaboration was exclusively commercial and sporting in nature.
Pirlo posted: “After learning last night that I am no longer the candidate to lead the Italian national team, I believe it is my duty to clarify a few points.
“In the last few days I have witnessed with great bitterness the debate that has developed around my name and the possibility of taking over the role of head coach of the Italian national team.
“During my career, first as a football player and now as a coach, I have always carried out my activity in full respect to the laws of the countries I worked in and the contracts I signed.
“To attribute a political meaning to such a collaboration means to attribute convictions that I have never expressed and that do not belong to me.”
Maldini was appointed on July 11 to help rebuild the national side and lead a decade-long project that would include radical youth development after claims the lack of grassroots talent is what caused Italy’s recent woes.
Antonio Conte, Roberto Mancini and Thiago Motta are now among the favourites to take over at the helm.
The Sun UK
