An old man doesn't need that stress: Ranieri rejects Azzurri's job

It sounded like another fairytale in prospect, a Leicester City 2.0, but we won't see any of it after all. Claudio Ranieri estimated that at the age of 73, it would simply be too much for him to do two jobs simultaneously and he turned down the offer to become the new coach of the Italian national team.

Ranieri had already promised Roma that he would devote himself to the role of advisor to the Friedkin family and did not want to break his word. Just recently, he brought Gian Piero Gasperini as the team's coach. Ranieri was also worried that the tension would surely spill over to the club if things went badly for him with the national team. And vice versa.

The Italian savior is Claudio Ranieri

It didn't matter that the Friedkins were willing to allow him to take over from Luciano Spalletti.

Everything changed on Tuesday morning when Ranieri said 'No' to the chairman of the Italian Football Association Gabriele Gravina.

"It's a great honor for me to receive that proposal but I decided to continue with my role at AS Roma as part of the management", he said.

Spalletti announces his future sack as the Italy coach

Ranieri was the leading candidate, and the second was supposedly Stefano Pioli. However, the former Serie A winner with Milan is also under serious doubt due to his contract with Al-Nassr. Therefore, rumours are spreading that Gli Azzurri is most likely to be given to one of the 2006 FIFA World Cup winners, who are now tacticians, like Fabio Cannavaro, among others.