Dubai: Al Ahli assistant manager Fabio Cannavaro would be “honoured” to become the next coach of Italy, according to his agent Gaetano Fedele.
The 40-year-old 2006 World Cup winning captain’s name has been mentioned as a possible successor to Cesare Prandelli following Italy’s disappointing group stage exit at the 2014 Fifa World Cup, where the Azzuri finished third in Group D.
“It’s an intriguing proposal and he’d be honoured,” Fedele told Sky Sports Italia. “But there is little concrete to talk about right now.
“When there is a generational change, doing something different can be the right choice.”
The former Juventus and Real Madrid defender, who won the Fifa Ballon d’Or in 2006, has recently become eligible for a number of high profile roles after passing his Uefa Pro Master’s coaching degree. He has also been linked as a successor to Zinedine Zidane as the assistant to Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid.
“There had been some discussion with Real Madrid over the last year,” added Fedele. “Now he is continuing this experience at Al Ahli, which he is enjoying.”
Cannavaro had earlier told ITV he was ready to manage Italy if called upon. “Of course, it would be a great honour for me to be the manager of my national team, but I don’t know,” he said.
“Right now, the federation want to change the president, the coach … it would be difficult. I’m ready, but I don’t know. We’ll wait. I could not say no, but I don’t know what they want to do, what they want for the future. Now I think is a very important moment for our federation.”
Cannavaro joined Al Ahli as a player in 2010 before becoming a technical consultant a year later, he served as an assistant coach last season and helped the club lift a historic treble of Arabian Gulf League, Super Cup and League Cup honours.
