Roberto Mancini has given another interview confirming he had been ‘thinking for months’ about resigning as Italy coach, insisting he ‘didn’t show a lack of respect’ by leaving in August.
The CT handed in his resignation on Saturday night and it was confirmed by the FIGC on Sunday afternoon, expressing their surprise at the development.
He gave an interview with La Repubblica newspaper and you can read his comments here, but also spoke to other media sources.
“After five and a half years, it can happen,” Mancini told the Corriere dello Sport.
“There were another two and a half years on the contract, but I had been thinking about this for months and perhaps the moment had come to walk away. When you feel some situations are changing internally, it means you are in any case heading towards the end.”
Italy are now scrambling to find a new coach ahead of the crucial EURO 2024 qualifiers against North Macedonia on September 9 and Ukraine on September 12.
“I don’t think that I showed a lack of respect to anyone, I certainly didn’t kill anyone. I was sad to read and hear certain things being said. I hoped to continue, because I really enjoyed coaching Italy, but when situations changed and you realise it is time to move on, you have to do it sooner rather than later. With great sadness, that is what I did.
“I know, it is a difficult moment, but the team played in the Nations League in June, I am not leaving them stranded by the wayside and it is not the day before the season begins. When you prepare the Nazionale for a match, you only have a week of training anyway. This is the job, so it doesn’t feel right to hear all this criticism of my timing. It was the right moment to leave.”
Mancini had taken the job in May 2018 and oversaw 61 games for the Azzurri, resulting in 39 wins, 13 draws and only nine defeats.
While he was able to take the Nazionale to victory at EURO 2020 in Wembley Stadium, he also failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
His final match was the 3-2 win over the Netherlands on June 18, securing third place in the Nations League.
move on about this quality size of players hard stern coach extreme physical fitness let the young players play in the leage teams ther should be 30 to 50 italian player playing all the time