The Italian Football Federation is hoping to appoint Pep Guardiola as Italy’s next head coach.
The two sides met in Barcelona last weekend Sky Italia reports, although no agreement has been reached yet.
Paolo Maldini, the Italian federation’s new technical director, travelled to Catalonia with Brazilian adviser Leonardo to discuss a possible collaboration with Guardiola.
The pair are said to have spent three days in Barcelona in talks with the former Manchester City manager.
It remains unclear whether Guardiola is genuinely interested in the role. The Catalan left Manchester City in June after 10 years at the club.
Italy are searching for a high-profile successor to Gennaro Gattuso after missing the most recent World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The four-time world champions are under pressure to rebuild after another major setback.
Gattuso, who has since joined Lazio, was dismissed in early April after the “Azzurri” were knocked out of the World Cup play-offs by Bosnia on penalties. Team manager Gianluigi Buffon and federation president Gabriele Gravina also left their posts.
Appointing Guardiola would represent a major coup for the Italian federation. In recent weeks, Italian media had mainly linked the job with Roberto Mancini and Andrea Pirlo.
Mancini was Italy manager from May 2018 to August 2023 and led the national side to victory at Euro 2021.
Pirlo won the World Cup with Italy as a player in 2006, but his coaching spells at Juventus and Sampdoria in recent years have been widely viewed as disappointing.
