Mourinho gives opinion on Italian football crisis and endorses Allegri for coach job

Jose Mourinho has given his thoughts on the state of Italian football, lending his support to the idea of Massimiliano Allegri becoming the new coach.

In the past few weeks there has been a lot of speculation that Giovanni Malagò is the leading candidate to take over from Gabriele Gravina as the president of the Italian Football Federation, following the failure to qualify for a third straight World Cup.

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In addition to that, there has been talk that he wants Allegri in charge of the Nazionale. Depending on which source you believe, the Milan boss has either affirmed his commitment to the club, or is tempted by the job because of a difficult relationship with the management.

The former Inter and Roma coach Mourinho – now at Benfica but linked with a return to Real Madrid – gave an interview to Sportmediaset in which he spoke about Italian football and the Allegri links. MilanPress relayed his words.

Another World Cup without Italy…

It’s sad. When you didn’t qualify, I was with Rui Costa, and we couldn’t believe it. ‘How is it possible that our Italy didn’t make it?’ we asked ourselves. But it’s real; it happened.

Some say a foreign coach must be hired…

“I disagree: I don’t think we need a foreign coach. Italy has coaches with the charisma, the quality, the experience… You can’t have Carletto (Ancelotti), but you can have Max (Allegri), Antonio (Conte), and there are certainly others… But there are some things that need to be rethought.

“For example, I see a country like Portugal with 10 million inhabitants: youth competitions, working conditions… there are incredible differences. Then you see the quality of the Portuguese players who come out every week, with the coach having difficulty deciding which players to leave out.

Who would you choose to begin the rebuild?

“Italy needs to think deeply about the grassroots. I think Malagò is a strong name: he would bring a wealth of experience, and I’d love to see him as president of the FIGC.

“He would certainly understand the need to change the grassroots structure. Italy is very strong in many Olympic sports. I’d go with the M&M combo: Malagò and Max.”