Not everyone in Italy sees Guardiola’s option as good: “It would be a mistake”

The Italian team, after the failure of not qualifying for the recently concluded World Cup, dreams of signing Pep Guardiola and even the president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), Giovanni Malagò, admitted this Wednesday that he is in talks with the Santpedor coach, although he warned that it is not certain that the operation “will come to fruition.” Even La Gazzetta dello Sport had the headline “Give us Pep (O Conte)” on its cover.

However, not everyone in Italy sees Guardiola’s option as a good one. Luciano Buonfiglio, president of the Italian Olympic Committee, was completely against it and demands a coach born in Italy: “The only thing I ask of Giovanni is that he choose an Italian coach.”

According to Buonfiglio, not having a national coach would not make sense and he prefers to bet on a coaching school with world-renowned prestige such as the Italian one. In this sense, and to reinforce his explanations, he recalled a bad bet when he was in charge of the Italian Canoeing Federation. Buonfiglio, when he opted for a German coach who was not interested in “the mentality or idiosyncrasy of the Italian athlete, losing the solid foundation that had been built in the previous years.”