Pep Guardiola Nearly Became Italy's National Team Coach, Reveals Paolo Maldini

A lunch in Barcelona, lineups scribbled on a piece of paper and an offer that nearly changed the course of the Italian national team. That's what Paolo Maldini revealed in an interview published this Sunday in the newspaper Corriere della Sera, where he said that Pep Guardiola came close to becoming Italy's head coach.

Maldini, who served as technical director of the Italian federation and left the role following the Andrea Pirlo case (Pirlo was ruled out over his ties to a Russian betting company), walked through how things unfolded before Roberto Mancini eventually took over the bench. The first choice had been Carlo Ancelotti, but he turned down the offer because Brazil had reaffirmed its full confidence in him. That's when they turned to Guardiola, Maldini explained, "because he's the coach who best represents technical, attacking soccer."

What followed was a serious approach, not just idle rumors. "Through some friends, he had floated the idea of coaching a national team. We went to visit him in Barcelona, we had lunch together and talked all day long. He was very tempted. He came close to saying yes. He even started writing out lineups on paper," Maldini said.

Through some friends, he had floated the idea of coaching a national team. We went to visit him in Barcelona, we had lunch together and talked all day long. He was very tempted. He came close to saying yes. He even started writing out lineups on paper.Paolo Maldini

And the money? On that point, Maldini was blunt in shooting down the story that Guardiola had asked for an outrageous sum, somewhere around 20 million euros. "Money was never an issue. Pep told us flat out: give me one euro less than what the previous coach was making and that's fine with me," said the former Milan defender.

Fatigue outweighed the temptation

If it wasn't about salary, what held Guardiola back? The answer, according to Maldini, has to do with the physical and mental toll built up over more than a decade in the Premier League, between Manchester City and his earlier stint at Bayern Munich. "Guardiola is coming off ten grueling years in the Premier League. He had back surgery. He wants to rest. But it was a very serious conversation. We went through the squads, starting from the under-17 level on up," he said.

That conversation, far from a mere courtesy, included a full rundown of the talent available to the Italian national team across its various age groups. Guardiola actually studied the project with the depth of someone who was genuinely weighing it, though in the end his body called for a break that didn't fit with the demands of running a national team at that moment.

In the end, the Italian Football Federation, with Giovanni Malago as president, went with Roberto Mancini to take charge of the Azzurri, closing out a saga that, according to Maldini's account, came far closer to ending with Guardiola on the bench than many ever imagined.