Italy have a long way to go to assemble another formidable national team, similar to the one meticulously built by Marcello Lippi between 2004 and 2006.
The Italian football federation (FIGC) have to act fast to appoint Cesare Prandelli’s successor with the Euro 2016 qualifiers coming up fast.
The Azzurri are in Group H with Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Malta, Norway and Croatia. The first match-day is on September 9 and Italy play away to Norway.
At the moment, speculation is rife that the choice is restricted between Roberto Mancini and Massimiliano Allegri with Francesco Guidolin and Alberto Zaccheroni the dark outsiders.
Some critics are also contending that Antonio Conte, arguably the most emerging Italian coach in circulation, should be considered on a part-time basis.
The Juve coach is very ambitious and went on record as saying that once his stint in Turin is over, he would relish the opportunity to coach in the English Premier League or the Spanish La Liga.
Perhaps, in around 10 years’ time, Conte, 44, would be a strong candidate to become Italy coach but at the moment he seems to be more focused on club football.
Zaccheroni did reasonably well with Japan in the last four years but at club level, bar the 1998/99 scudetto at Milan, he left much to be desired.
The 58-year-old Guidolin, who has just been promoted as technical supervisor to the three teams owned by the Pozzo family, could be the best candidate being linked for the post as he has a knack for developing and getting the best out of average players.
The front-runner for many, however, is Mancini.
Contrary to Guidolin, he has vast international experience both as a player and coach, albeit his clubs, Lazio, Inter, Manchester City and Galatasaray never made inroads in European competitions.
During his reign at the San Siro, Allegri did not succeed in giving Milan a proper playing identity and failed to transform the side into a true force to reckon with in Europe.
The salary demands of both Mancini and Allegri could potentially pose a major stumbling block for either one to fill in the gap left by Prandelli.
Mancini earned around €8m per year at Galatasaray whereas Allegri was on a €3m annual contract at Milan. It is unlikely that the FIGC will offer anything more than what Prandelli had – €2m per year.
Mammoth task ahead
For sure, the newly-appointed coach will have a mammoth task ahead of him on the field of play.
At present, the morale is at its lowest ebb and clearly the emerging talent in Serie A is in short supply.
The Italian top flight has lost much of its allure and the likes of Marco Verratti and Ciro Immobile have left the peninsula in search of pastures new.
In the last three years, the Serie A lost all its three top scorers to other major leagues.
In 2012, Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined Paris SG from Milan, last year Edinson Cavani moved to Paris SG from Napoli and, last month, Immobile completed his transfer to Borussia Dortmund from Torino.
Promising players are not being given enough space to develop as Italian clubs persist in instant success and prefer experienced players to the less tried and tested ones.
In this regard, we have lately witnessed a rise in the number of seasoned foreigners moving to Italy.
On Monday, Roma signed 33-year-old wing-back Ashley Cole from Chelsea and Inter have just presented former Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic (age: 32) as their top signing this summer.
No wonder then that an entire decade has elapsed since Italy’s most recent triumph in the U-21 Championship, a competition which the country used to dominate and won on various occasions.
Had Italy done well in Brazil this summer, Prandelli would have honoured his contract up until after Euro 2016.
At that juncture, one would have expected Carlo Ancelotti to succeed Prandelli. But as things evolved, Ancelotti will not be available as he is eyeing more major silverware at Real Madrid in the immediate future.