Antonio Conte is one of the leading candidates to replace Gennaro Gattuso on the Italy bench, and Napoli don’t want to be unprepared in case he takes the national team job, Mediaset reports.
President Aurelio De Laurentiis has a shortlist of managers he’s intrigued with. He’d like to go with an up-and-comer after leaning on a few veterans. He also wouldn’t mind a more effervescent playing style.
Napoli hired Conte for a quick return to winning ways following a hellish campaign, but they might take a more patient approach next. Their owner is a long-time admirer of Vincenzo Italiano.
Roberto De Zerbi quickly removed himself from the market, taking the Tottenham job. The Partenopei would eventually target bosses in the same vein, such as Francesco Farioli, who’s now at Porto, Daniele De Rossi or Fabio Grosso, who are doing well at Genoa and Sassuolo respectively.
He’s a significantly likelier option for the national team than Massimiliano Allegri, who basically quickly took himself out of consideration, given his familiarity with the role and the fact that he’s not prone to long-term projects. Word on the street is that he’ll stay without a new deal, but that rarely happens in top clubs. If he plans to move on next year, he might as well jump ship this summer and play his favorite part, the savior one. The problem for his club is that a few of their players seem attached to the hip to him, so his exit could have significant repercussions. It might be the right summer for De Laurentiis to finally snap up Italiano, as Bologna have been good but not great this campaign.
