Roberto Mancini ruled himself out of the running for the Italy job. “I’m not surprised I’m on the list, but I am happy at Zenit and am not thinking about the Nazionale.”
Giampiero Ventura was sacked after the Azzurri failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 60 years.
Carlo Ancelotti is the favourite, but Mancini is the other big name on the wish-list.
Roberto Mancini ruled himself out of the running for the Italy job. “I’m not surprised I’m on the list, but I am happy at Zenit and am not thinking about the Nazionale.”
Giampiero Ventura was sacked after the Azzurri failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 60 years.
Carlo Ancelotti is the favourite, but Mancini is the other big name on the wish-list.
“Like many of my fellow countrymen, I dreamed of seeing Italy at the World Cup in Russia. Seeing them crash out gave me tremendous sadness,” Mancio told Match TV.
“I was born after 1958, the last time our team failed to qualify for the World Cup, so I didn’t know what it meant to not be there. Now I can admit it feels surreal and extremely sad.”
Mancini was asked if he would replace Ventura on the Italy bench.
“I am not surprised my name has been mentioned on the list, seeing as they also discussed colleagues with experience who won in various different countries.
“But I am happy at Zenit and in St Petersburg, so I am not thinking about the Nazionale. My objective is to win the Russian league title.”
Italy lost the play-off 1-0 to Sweden on aggregate, held 0-0 at San Siro in the decider on Monday.
“I thought the Nazionale was very unlucky, especially in the second leg when they wasted a lot of chances, but football is a very strange sport.
“There are days when it’s all going against you and you can’t do anything about it. This is why we won’t see Italy in Russia next summer.
“In all national teams, there has to be a generational shift at some point, and Italy are obviously at that moment, but I think they will soon get back to being leaders in the football world because there are a lot of talented youngsters coming through.”