Madrid [Spain], April 21 (ANI): Former Italy and Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci has called for Manchester City Pep Guardiola to become the national side's head coach and bring in a 'radical change' following Azzurri's failure to qualify for a FIFA World Cup for the third time in a row.

In a shocker, earlier in April, Italy failed to make it to their third FIFA WC in a row following a 4-1 loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties. The four-time champions, who last won the World Cup in 2006 and last competed in the marquee tournament back in 2014, miss out on competing with some of the football's best yet again despite the World Cup's expansion to 48 teams. The tournament is set to take place from June 11 to July 19 and will be co-hosted by the USA, Mexico and Canada.

What is even more baffling is that during this time period, Italy found their first-ever qualification to a T20 World Cup in cricket, where Italy enjoys an associate nation status and is ranked world number 26. Italy competed in the T20WC, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, securing their first-ever win against Nepal and almost chasing down 203 runs against two-time champions England, falling short by 24 runs.

Now, after another World Cup qualifier debacle, head coach Gennaro Gattuso has stepped down, and Italy is looking out for a new head coach.

Bonucci, who worked as a technical coach in the national team, said, as quoted by ESPN, 'If we want a radical change in the national team, I would say the right man for the job is Pep Guardiola. It is very difficult, but dreaming costs nothing.'

Guardiola's contract with Manchester City will expire next year in June, and desires to leave his mark as a coach with a national side during a major tournament before his retirement. Guardiola has been an exceptional boss at the club level, having won 40 major trophies while being in charge of top European clubs like Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, including three UEFA Champions League crowns and a treble of Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League with Manchester City in the 2022-23 season.

Napoli coach Antonio Conte and Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri have emerged as frontrunners for the top post in Italian football so far. The failure to qualify for the World Cup once again resulted in a lot of anger from fans and the Italian football president Gabriele Gravina resigned amid political pressure. Now, the elections for the FIGC will take place in June 2022.

Gianluigi Buffon, the 2006 World Cup-winning goalkeeper, also stepped down from his role of team's delegation chief.

Italy is in a dire need of change as per Bonucci, who played a big role in their Euro title win back in 2021, saying that the 'team needs to have the courage to face what is happening'

'We need to have the courage to face up to what's happening so that we can regain the respect of the whole world and become that great national team that was world champion,' he said.

'The important thing is to rebuild Italian football, starting from the ground up, starting with the defence.

'Italy needs time and a partnership between politics and football so that both can move in the same direction. There are young players with a lot of talent; we need to nurture them and let them develop, and start afresh. The only magic formula is time,' he signed off. (ANI)