Former Italy CT Cesare Prandelli reveals he hasn’t had ‘any kind of offer’ from Serie A clubs, after leaving Galatasaray.
The former Fiorentina Coach stood down from his position with the Azzurri after a disastrous World Cup, taking over the Turkish side, before being dismissed in November.
“I’ve had good offers in Europe,” Prandelli told Corriere dello Sport.
“But I had this dispute with Galatasaray, and if you ask for time not all of them will wait for you. I haven’t had any kind of offers from Italy.
Former Italy CT Cesare Prandelli reveals he hasn’t had ‘any kind of offer’ from Serie A clubs, after leaving Galatasaray.
The former Fiorentina Coach stood down from his position with the Azzurri after a disastrous World Cup, taking over the Turkish side, before being dismissed in November.
“I’ve had good offers in Europe,” Prandelli told Corriere dello Sport.
“But I had this dispute with Galatasaray, and if you ask for time not all of them will wait for you. I haven’t had any kind of offers from Italy.
"I have strong motivation. I'm champing at the bit from a professional point of view, because I want to get back on the pitch, to grow a team.
"I don't feel any anxiety like I did after the national team."
Despite seeing his side eliminated in the group stage at last summer’s World Cup, Prandelli defends his Italy record, which has been criticised by, among others, Leonardo Bonucci.
“Everyone inherits something, [Marcello] Lippi did, [Roberto] Donadoni did, and so did I.
“Go and look at the numbers, in four years we didn’t lose a competitive [qualifying] match, just some friendlies. That said, I don’t want to get involved in any kind of controversy.
“After the England game [in the World Cup], we were all phenomena, great preparation, great cohesion.
“Then something changed, suddenly it was ‘the old and young people don’t get along, it’s too hot, too much sun, too many children’.
“Time will show, you’ll see that all the things we did for the World Cup will be useful for the future.
“I took responsibility for everything, I think you have to. I don’t like soundbites. It went wrong, and I’ll still say it was my fault.
“We played against Costa Rica and were caught offside 15 times, and we couldn’t score a goal, even though Costa Rica were only eliminated on penalties by the great Holland.
“In sport there is only one winner.
“We had bad luck with us too, we ended up in a group with England and Uruguay, and that’s a disadvantage, but it’s useless to talk about it now.
“We beat Germany, who later became world champions. Germany continued to believe in themselves.
“We were without [Riccardo] Montolivo, [Emmanuele] Giaccherini, [Antonio] Diamanti and [Christian] Maggio, they were the ones who brought a bit of unity, that created an additional spirit.
“After the European Championships [in 2012], I had a clause which no-one knew about. Everyone knew I had a four-year contract, but it was two-plus-two, with an option which either side could take up.
“I informed the President [of the FIGC, Giancarlo Abete] that my time was up, I missed day-to-day coaching. They convinced me to be more involved, to look after the youth sector.
“I said ‘ok’ the day before the final in Kiev!
“My resignation? Maybe I’d have been better leaving it for a day or two, given what happened next…”