Pep Guardiola has told Italy no. The Catalan phoned the Italian Football Federation delegation in a late-night call to confirm he would not take the vacant head coach position, as reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport via Football Italia.
His answer ends more than a week of talks that began with a face-to-face meeting in Barcelona.
The message conveyed to technical director Paolo Maldini was that the project was not the right fit for Guardiola at this stage of his career.
He told the delegation he had seriously weighed the offer but wanted a proper break after a decade at Manchester City, and had no appetite for the eight-to-ten-year rebuild the FIGC laid out for him.
The other issue was money. Guardiola’s camp had asked for €20m per season, roughly double what the federation could sensibly commit even after promising exceptions to its salary structure, beIN Sports reported.
Maldini and Leonardo travelled to Barcelona
Maldini and advisor Leonardo flew to Spain last weekend for talks that stretched across two days, according to Sky Italia via Fox Sports.
Speaking earlier this week, FIGC president Giovanni Malagò confirmed the conversations publicly.
“Exceptions have been made, exceptions that for example may concern the name that is so overbearing in these hours: Pep Guardiola,” Malagò said, before adding the caveat that “it is not certain that this thing will go through”, in comments carried by Yahoo Sports.
Read also: Tadej Pogacar earns 34 times the peloton median: Tour de France salaries ranked
Pirlo moves to the front of the queue
Andrea Pirlo is now the leading candidate Maldini and Leonardo plan to approach.
Antonio Conte, Roberto Mancini and Massimiliano Allegri have all been floated during the search, though Malagò insisted the shortlist was not limited to the names already reported.
Italy have been without a permanent coach since Gennaro Gattuso resigned on 3 April, Al Jazeera reported, the week after a 1-0 lead against ten-man Bosnia and Herzegovina collapsed into a penalty-shootout defeat that sent the Azzurri crashing out of a third straight World Cup.
Federation president Gabriele Gravina and delegation chief Gianluigi Buffon stepped down within 24 hours, opening the door for the current Malagò-Maldini-Leonardo leadership.
Read also: Paredes drops Messi retirement bombshell: 'He had made the decision'
The FIGC federal council meets on Tuesday.
Maldini has said he would rather wait for “the person we really want” than rush an appointment, meaning the Pirlo talks are likely to determine whether the Azzurri have a permanent coach in place before the September international window.
Read also: Alcaraz has earned $3 million more than Sinner since April 14 – but he hasn't played a single match
