Sunday’s reports claim that Claudio Ranieri is inclined to stay on in his current role with Roma rather than becoming the new CT of the Italy national team following Luciano Spalletti’s announcement earlier in the day.
Spalletti has confirmed that he will be leaving his position as head coach of the Italy national team after the upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifier against Moldova on Monday night.
The decision leaves the FIGC looking for a new coach to lead the squad into the 2026 World Cup, and through the qualification process, which has already become complicated after the 3-0 loss against Norway on Friday evening.
Click here to read everything that Spalletti said during his latest Italy press conference.
Ranieri took over from Ivan Juric as head coach of his beloved Roma in November.
The 73-year-old served on an interim basis until the end of the 2024-25 season, finished the campaign with the best form of any team in the division in the second half of the season, and ended one point outside of the Champions League positions.
Following the permanent appointment of Gian Piero Gasperini as head coach of the Giallorossi, the club have also recently confirmed that Ranieri will now serve as a ‘manager and advisor to the ownership’.
Ranieri’s new role was only officially confirmed on Saturday, which means that he is only one day into the job at the time of Spalletti’s departure from the Italy national team.
Despite that, Ranieri, along with Stefano Pioli, has been described as one of the frontrunners to take over from Spalletti as head coach of the Azzurri.
According to reports from Gianluca Di Marzio, however, Ranieri has already expressed his intention to stay on with Roma, despite previous approaches from the Italian federation.
That leaves Pioli as well as the alternative options such as Fabio Cannavaro, Daniele De Rossi and Gennaro Gattuso as the current options to take over from Spalletti.
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