´No chance´ of Montella leaving Sevilla for Italy

Sevilla head coach Vincenzo Montella has ruled out any prospect of him taking charge of Italy.

Former Milan boss Montella succeeded Eduardo Berizzo at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan at the end of December and led the LaLiga side to a shock Champions League triumph over Manchester United this month.

Italy are yet to identify a permanent replacement for Gian Piero Ventura, who failed to secure qualification for the 2018 World Cup.

Luigi Di Biagio took charge of friendlies against Argentina and England over the past week, while Montella recently said it would be a “dream” to coach his country.

However, speaking ahead of Sevilla’s home game against Barcelona, the 43-year-old insisted he does not see himself in the Azzurri dugout for some time yet.

“There is no chance to become manager of the Italian team,” he told a news conference.

“Firstly I feel very good here and I am focused on what I am doing here. Secondly there wasn’t any kind of contact from Italy.

“The third reason is that to coach Italy you must have many white hairs and for now I have just a few.”

Welcome back to training to our  internationals who have been out representing their nations  pic.twitter.com/oqKU9Jlb8g

— Sevilla FC (@SevillaFC_ENG) 29 March 2018

Italian Football Federation (FICG) vice-commissioner Alessandro Costacurta has identified Chelsea boss Antonio Conte as his main target, with Di Biagio and Zenit’s former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini also in the frame.

Italy lost 2-0 to Argentina in Manchester last Friday before Lorenzo Insigne’s late penalty salvaged a 1-1 draw against England at Wembley.