Pep Guardiola's future at Manchester City has been back under the spotlight in recent months.
Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola is under contract until the end of next season
Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola is under contract until the end of next season(Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
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Italy technical coach Leonardo Bonucci has called on the Italian FA to appoint Pep Guardiola as the country's new head coach. Manchester City's legendary manager is under contract until the end of next season.
Guardiola has previously stated his desire to coach a national team before retiring. However, when asked at the beginning of the year about his future, the Catalonian said: "You want to fire me? No? Good. My salary is so high so I have one more year. I will leave one day. I promise you.
"I have a contract, I'm happy and I want to fight with my team. The hierarchy respect me. They proved that last season after what happened in this club when we didn't win one game in two to three months. They supported me, so what can I do? I want to try and do it [stay].
"Maybe one day, I don't know, I have one more year [left on my contract] and I would like to still be here, so we'll see. I've said a thousand million times about that but my credibility is zero, right?"
In an interview with ESPN this week, Bonucci was asked who should replace Gennaro Gattuso after Italy failed to qualify for another World Cup.
The former defender responded: "If we want a radical change in the national team, I'd say the right man for the job is Pep Guardiola. It's very difficult, but dreaming costs nothing."
Bonucci added: "We need to have the courage to face up to what's happening so that we can regain the respect of the whole world and become that great national team that was world champion. The important thing is to rebuild Italian football, starting from the ground up, starting with the defence.
"Italy needs time and a partnership between politics and football so that both can move in the same direction. There are young players with a lot of talent; we need to nurture them and let them develop, and start afresh. The only magic formula is time."
Italy lost on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina to miss out on another World Cup.