From Evani to Sandreani, all the collaborators towards the signing. Soon the meeting in Rome. Originals pending. Giallo Bollini, the only one to win: from deputy designate to excluded
More than Saudi Arabia it looks like Saudi Italy. We are at the details or almost. Roberto Mancini is about to become coach of the Gulf national team and will bring with him all the staff from his old Italy. It is not a way of saying: absolutely everything. Nine men, maybe ten. In the last few days, in fact, there has been a turning point. The former blue coach decided to extend the offer to those collaborators he would no longer have by his side after the summer “reshuffle”. And that is Alberico Evani, his deputy, and Mauro Sandreani, one of the historical observers, whose contract the Federcalcio had not renewed before Mancini’s “promotion” to supervisor. A move that could also have effects in the perspective of legal disputes: thus Mancini could claim that he did not continue with Italy because there were no longer any men trusted by him …
Contact in June
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Of course it is very difficult to prove that this is really the case. Meanwhile, the negotiations with Arabia – whether the contract has been signed or not – began well before there was talk of the new organization chart in the FIGC, indeed the first contact dates back to immediately after the Nations, at the end of June. It is also difficult to demonstrate that the training of the blue coach’s staff has been hindered in some way. From the first hour, the Football Federation has complied with the coach’s requests. Let’s take the case of Attilio Lombardo who was “hired” three times: first on a token basis in March 2019, then confirmed and fixed-term for the European Championship, finally to the bitter end, at Mancini’s request. And even in the last, discussed, rearrangement, the coach achieved what he asked for: Barzagli, defense minister; Gagliardi, tactician; and also a podiatrist.
Saudi staff
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However with the former blue coach, at this point, they would go to Saudi Arabia: Evani, Salsano and Lombardo (technical staff), Gagliardi (tactician), the goalkeeper coach Battara, the athletic trainers Scanavino and Donatelli, the scouts Nuciari and Sandreani . In addition there is the masseur Agostino who already works in Arabia. The position of the possible tenth player is different, the team manager Lele Oriali, who was already in Coverciano before Mancini’s arrival and who has not yet spoken to the Federcalcio. But it is more than probable that he will leave and land in Saudi Italy. Evani, after the failure to assign the Under 21 team and after having refused the women’s national team, had slipped out of the federal ranks. Sandreani, formerly Conte’s technical collaborator at Juve and then in the national team, had returned to Coverciano with Mancini.
Contracts coming soon
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The former blue coach Mancini, who will earn almost 90 million in Saudi Arabia in two and a half years, until the 2026 World Cup, should meet his staff these days: an organizational meeting to define all the details and prepare the signing of the contracts. Emissaries of the Saudi royal family are expected in Rome next week to close the proceedings. The date of the presentation has not yet been chosen, but there should be a conference with Mancini in Riad again next week. Then the staff and team should leave for England because the debut – on 8 September with Costa Rica, 12 with South Korea – is expected in Newcastle, England, as part of a tour of preparation for the world qualifiers and the Asian Cup scheduled between January and February in Qatar. Just where he didn’t go with Italy last year.
Bollini case
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Once two other boxes have been placed, the situation of Alberto Bollini remains even more paradoxical, the coach who brought the Under 19 team to the top of Europe and who is currently floating outside the Spalpattian and Mancinian galaxies. The only blue coach who won something last season… When sport betrays the recognition of merit, it always betrays itself. Bollini, strongly linked to the Azzurri cause, had given up on the Under 21 that seemed to belong to him by right due to the logic of growth and had accepted the federal proposal to support coach Mancini as second and as a link with the youth teams. The tsunami that started from Mykonos, with Mancio’s nightly resignation, made him out of everything. Gravina will honor the commitment made and will offer Bollini a contract to sign. But to do what?
The project
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On the federal table a series of hypotheses, in line with that role of link between the senior national team and the youth team that he should have played as Mancini’s second. Of course, it wouldn’t be the field work he loves. He showed how much he can do on the bench in Malta last month by beating an almost unbeatable Spain and turning a 5-1 defeat into a final won 1-0 over Portugal himself, with perfect technical and psychological management. He could make use of knowledge and empathetic qualities even in a more managerial role, waiting to soon find a road that leads to the field.
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