The Italian team is going through a period of crisis. The probable appointment of Gennaro Gattuso at the head of the selection is not a very reassuring sign.
Italy will start a new adventure on Monday. Gennaro Gattuso will succeed Luciano Spalletti on the Nazionale bench, says Saturday La Gazzetta dello Sport. The choice of the former OM coach poses many questions and arouses great doubts.
How can a technician with a stem of chess become the coach of the European Champions 2021? According to several Italian media, Gennaro Gattuso is a default choice after the refusals of Claudio Ranieri and Stefano Pioli in particular. The hypothesis Roberto Mancini, the man of the European coronation, had also been advanced.
Gennaro Gattuso, 47, would integrate into his staff Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli, former Italian defenders and teammates in the title of 2006 world champion. Like Gianluigi Buffon already in the Nazionale management team.
Slapped in Norway
Gattuso has been free since the end of his contract on June 6, with the Croatian club Hadjuk Split where he only remained a season. Before that, he had been asked to leave Olympique de Marseille in February 2024, after five months deemed dissatisfactory, not to say something else.
His experience at FC Valence (Spain), 22 matches between July 2022 and January 2023, had also resulted in a failure. A mediocre CV which does not prevent it from taking care of the destinies of a morally affected nation. Italy, as we recall, has failed to qualify for the last two editions of the World Cup (2022, 2018).
After two first matches of the 2026 World Cup playoffs played in group I, Italy has a victory on June 9 against Moldova, and especially a defeat suffered three days earlier in Norway (3-0). A slap which had precipitated the end of the adventure of Luciano Spalletti, although to keep on the bench against Moldova.
