Following the disappointment of failing to qualify for this year’s World Cup, Italy boss Roberto Mancini has claimed that his side have their sights set on winning the 2020 European Championship.
That is the next tournament on the horizon for the Azzurri, who have found themselves in Group J along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Greece, Armenia and Liechtenstein.
Mancini, speaking at the FIGC’s Il Calcio e chi Io, wants his side to go there in a confident mood and also revealed why he is putting so much faith in youth during his time in charge.
“We can’t look ahead to the World Cup but now we have to be ready for the European Championship. We have to introduce ourselves, give a good impression and be one of the teams going there to win it,” Mancini said.
“At this time, we don’t have the champions that we had in Italy for decades and so the road that we must go down is to bring through younger guys, who have the quality but not the experience yet.
“We have taken the choice to go with young players but we also have men of experience in our team. For example, I really respect players like [Fabio] Quagliarella and I have often wanted to sign him at various clubs when he was younger.
“If we get to Euro 2020 and he is the top scorer in Serie A, we can talk more about it then.”
