Cesare Prandelli insists Italy are “among the favourites” to win Euro 2016, but “if we continue like this, I struggle to see a future for the Azzurri.”
He was on the bench when the Azzurri reached the Euro 2012 Final, but resigned following a disastrous 2014 World Cup campaign.
“Italy are certainly among the favourites for Euro 2016, even if it’ll be very important to figure out in what physical condition they’ll be in,” Prandelli told La Nazione newspaper.
Cesare Prandelli insists Italy are “among the favourites” to win Euro 2016, but “if we continue like this, I struggle to see a future for the Azzurri.”
He was on the bench when the Azzurri reached the Euro 2012 Final, but resigned following a disastrous 2014 World Cup campaign.
“Italy are certainly among the favourites for Euro 2016, even if it’ll be very important to figure out in what physical condition they’ll be in,” Prandelli told La Nazione newspaper.
“In a brief tournament you’ll find that fitness levels and form are fundamental, so the many injuries are certainly not helping Conte. We have to hope nobody else gets hurt.
“I say the absolute favourites are France, who are the hosts and improving a great deal, then Germany as world champions showed us how solid they are.
“I think Belgium will make a lot of teams suffer, starting with us in the group stage.
“Italy has one pretty obvious issue, which is that if everyone considered the Nazionale to be the most important team – the way they do in Germany – we’d have already resolved a lot of problems.
“We could’ve planned ahead with the clubs. Instead, just look at the Coppa Italia Final. Conte asked for it to be brought forward a few days to work with the squad a little more and he was told to forget it.
“The issue is that you can’t just love the Nazionale during a big international tournament. The clubs have too much power and inevitably force their economic interests on to everything else.
“I know this well, because I’ve been there. Nobody wants to fix a football that is in trouble because we don’t create our own talents.
“The solution is to reconstruct youth academies from the foundations. If we don’t invest, it’s only normal we’ll end up with teams entirely made up of foreign players. The fans are getting accustomed to it and then the Nazionale suffers.
“If we continue like this, I struggle to see a future for the Azzurri. Our players are 20 years old and still not protagonists in Serie A.”
Conte has already announced he’s quitting the Nazionale to take over at Chelsea.
“I don’t think it can have a negative effect, because it was all done with the utmost clarity.”
Could Prandelli return to the Azzurri bench or move on to a reported job at Lazio?
“I really hope to be back on a bench soon, as coaching is my profession and above all my great passion. I really miss it and can’t wait to challenge myself again. After my experience at Galatasaray it would be nice to work abroad again, but right now I prefer Italy.
“I was the CT for four years, it was an experience that was both wonderful and extremely stressful, so a repeat is not possible.
“I took full responsibility when I resigned and the controversy was ridiculous and offensive.”