Roberto Mancini's return feels right - but can he restore Italy to its former glory?

The Italian Football Federation has had a week of drama worthy of EastEnders, with Andrea Pirlo blocked from becoming head coach, Pep Guardiola declining the opportunity, Paolo Maldini’s resignation, and finally Roberto Mancini's reappointment as the next head coach of the Azzurri.

Former Manchester City manager Mancini has brought success to Italy before at Euro 2020, but is he truly the right person to get Italy’s national team back on track and give the country something to be truly proud of?

Sports News Blitz writer Luca Salmasi delves into this particular move and whether the FIGC have made the right move to revive Italian football.

Back to what works

Since Mancini’s departure, the next two tenures as head coach have been nothing short of disasters.

The first was under Luciano Spalletti, who led Italy through Euro 2024, where they just scraped through the group stage before being humiliated by Switzerland in Berlin, the home of their last World Cup triumph.

Spalletti would leave following World Cup qualification difficulties and be replaced by Italian icon Gennaro Gattuso.

However, Gattuso’s time in charge was unsurprisingly poor, given his dismal managerial CV. 

He took Italy back to the horrors of the World Cup play-offs for a third consecutive time, with the Azzurri losing on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This appointment works because, in the 20 years since that night in Berlin, Marcello Lippi and Mancini are the only two successful national team managers this century who knew what it took not only to reach a final but to win one.

Mancini is a safe appointment, but one that the FIGC are confident can do the job well. 

At the Euros, his tactical set-up brought the most out of the vast majority of players rather than one or two characters, and it was one of the most unified national team set-ups.

No major change

The FIGC expected major changes after the disaster of failing to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup, but unfortunately Mancini won’t necessarily bring the major change they are looking for.

Mancini’s appointment won’t bring the change that’s needed, and whilst he could do a decent job, it’s not really as big a step up for Italian football.

Standards for the Azzurri are currently at an all-time low, and whilst Mancini’s appointment brings positivity, it's not as significant a change as other potential appointments could have offered.

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Fans haven't forgotten his Saudi exit

Italy looked set for a lengthy tenure under Mancini after their Euro success, but before they attempted to retain the crown, he walked away from the role to become head coach of Saudi Arabia, just before two crucial qualifiers for Euro 2024.

Mancini stated that it was due to disagreements over coaching staff changes with the FIGC’s previous president, Gabriele Gravina.

This prompted the expected backlash from both the public and the media, as the sudden and extremely disrespectful departure came at a crucial stage of Euro 2024 Qualification and completely threw off all previous work that had been done.

Fans ultimately had the last laugh, as despite the lucrative contract offer, Mancini could not perform, managing only seven wins in 18 games, leading to his departure in October 2024.

A return to familiarity

Mancini was always the FIGC’s preferred candidate, unsurprisingly, given the success he brought them as European Champions in 2021.

Additionally, despite Mancini’s move to Saudi Arabia, the relationship between the two parties has remained fairly close and positive over the last few years.

What also made this seem like a slam dunk appointment was that new president Giovanni Malago has always been a backer of Mancini.

A nation stuck in the past

Mancini and the FIGC have a lot more to do than just revive the national team; they also need to reform the system in Italy as a whole, to ensure that it clearly filters down from the top.

Italy’s biggest flaw is its lack of identity, which sets it apart from other successful footballing nations and constantly holds it back, as it more often than not fails to control games when needed, with the Bosnia game a benign example of that.

The lack of risk-taking is clear to see, and whilst that may have previously worked, it’s completely outdated.

This also mirrors many appointments at club level, as Serie A is often criticised for recycling the same managers and are often reluctant to embrace changes, with issues that run deeper than whoever is in the dugout.

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