Italian National Team, Malagò in a Bind: A Star-Studded Offer for Antonio Conte

First FIGC Federal Council meeting following the election of Giovanni Malagò as the new president: among the decisions to be made is the appointment of the new technical director, which is expected to take place by the end of this week. The new president has so far tried unsuccessfully to convince Paolo Maldini; the other two likely candidates are Alessandro Costacurta and Frederic Massara.

The main focus remains the appointment of the new head coach: as is well known, there are two coaches vying for the Azzurri’s helm—Antonio Conte and Roberto Mancini. The Lecce-born coach had been considered the favorite in recent days: he would reportedly be willing to accept a salary of 4 million euros net per year, half of what he earned at Napoli over the past two seasons.

But an offer from Saudi Arabia is throwing everything into question. According to *Corriere dello Sport*, Al-Ittihad has reportedly offered Conte a massive contract worth 20 million euros net per year—five times what the FIGC has proposed—to convince him to move to the Middle East: a salary that would place him among the highest-paid coaches in the world.

Mancini is the “low-cost” option: the Jesi-born coach would settle for around 2 million euros a year. However, the European champion coach is not particularly sought after by the Serie A League, and negotiations are proving difficult.