Last month, the Italian Football Federation confirmed that Luciano Spalletti will be taking over as the new Italy coach.

Roberto Mancini, who had been manager for five years, resigned and was replaced by the former Napoli boss. The 64-year-old has a lengthy club management resume that includes stints as manager of Roma and Inter and as head coach of Russian club Zenit St. Petersburg for five years.

Last season, he guided the Partenopei to their first Serie A championship in 33 years. After his success, he decided to leave Naples. His term will start in September.

Wembley will host Italy on October 17 since they are a part of England’s Euro 2024 qualification group. They are presently third in Group C of qualification, behind England and Ukraine. Spalletti’s job now is to get Italy ready for Euro 2024 in Germany, where the champions will try to retain their title after defeating England in the final in 2020.

Spalletti spoke at his first press conference with Italy

With Luciano Spalletti at the helm, the Italian national team will be moving in a new, more offensively-focused direction. The Italian coach, 64 years old, was introduced to the public during a news conference held in Coverciano on Saturday.

There, he detailed his roster additions, the legacy of Roberto Mancini’s tenure, and his strategy moving forward. Spalletti is credited with leading Napoli to their first Scudetto title in 33 years last season because of his electrifying style of aggressive football played in a 4-3-3 formation.

In his news conference, Italy’s new coach addressed the team’s perennial problem of not having enough consistent strikers by suggesting that some established players may be recast in the position.

What will the new Azzurri look like?

“There are strikers who can wear the national team shirt. I didn’t call up Kean and Scamacca because of their playing time, I called up three others. Of course, a physical striker has some clear qualities, but perhaps Raspadori is better to link up.

“I feel there is good potential up front. I feel players in other roles can play as a striker too, despite having played in different positions. There is work to do. I trust myself and my staff members who I’ve known since the very first day I started coaching. Their help has helped me become the coach I am today”, he said.

About how he wants the new Azzurri to look like, he added: “We need to play a football that everyone will enjoy to watch. We want to play with a 4-man defense and some players were chosen because they play in this system. But also, in my opinion, there’s no difference because whoever plays in a 3-man defense adapts well to the football we want to play because we always want to go and get the ball.”

“We have a midfield that’s one of the strongest around and this is fundamental to build any style of play. We’re going to start with the 4-3-3, then if we need to be a little more attacking we can put in an attacking midfielder and switch to a 4-2-3-1. To start we’re going down this road.”

Photo credit: IMAGO / sportphoto24