When Marcel Desailly talks about rebuilding a national team, Italy would do well to listen. Speaking to Corriere dello Sport, with quotes carried by TuttoMercatoWeb, ahead of France's meeting with Italy in Paris, the former France and Milan defender offered an unequivocal endorsement of Roberto Mancini's second spell: 'There's nobody better than Mancini to get through the great crisis you're going through. Three times without a World Cup, unbelievable.' For a football nation still digesting the play-off final defeat in Zenica, which followed a confident 2-0 semi-final win over Northern Ireland, it was a timely vote of confidence.

Mancini's return was confirmed on July 28, 2026, capping a chaotic search for Gennaro Gattuso's successor after the coach resigned in April following the Bosnia disaster. Pep Guardiola was approached and said no, Carlo Ancelotti stayed with Brazil, and Andrea Pirlo's candidacy collapsed over commercial ties to a betting company that created a conflict of interest. In the end the FIGC turned to the man who won Euro 2020, the coach who previously led Italy from 2018 to 2023 before leaving for Saudi Arabia, trusting that the architect of the country's last great triumph can engineer another one.

The early evidence suggests a genuine revolution in selection. The starting XI that lost to Belgium in Mancini's first game back had an average age of just 23, and nine uncapped players were named in his first squad. Issa Doumbia and Mohamed Ali Zoma were both handed their debuts, signalling that reputations will count for little in this new era. Desailly noticed the shift: 'I see that faith in young players has returned and that's a good thing.' Doumbia's Champions League breakthrough shows the talent is there if the coach is brave enough to trust it.

Results have been mixed but the direction of travel is encouraging. After the Belgium defeat, Italy responded in style in Bursa on September 28, thrashing Vincenzo Montella's Turkiye 4-1 to steady nerves considerably. October brought a home meeting with Turkiye in Bologna, where young striker Francesco Pio Esposito continued his rise by finding the net again. The Nations League was never going to be the priority, but competitive minutes for a new generation are exactly what this project needs, and Mancini is using them wisely.

The scale of the task cannot be overstated. Italy have won just one World Cup match since lifting the trophy in 2006, the 2-1 victory over England in Brazil 2014, and have not appeared in a World Cup knockout game for two decades. Systemic problems run deep: Italian clubs lean heavily on foreign players, very few own their stadiums, and critics say the country has been slow to adapt to the high-intensity pressing game dominating international football. Desailly's warning was pointed: 'You have to rebuild from zero and that can't be done in a day... you have to run at double speed to make up the lost ground.'

The structure around Mancini looks stronger than it has in years, with Claudio Ranieri installed as technical director and Gianfranco Zola coordinating youth projects. Captain Gianluigi Donnarumma, widely rated among the best goalkeepers in the world, has set the tone: 'We have to work. The only way forward is to work... History has taught us that. So we have to bring Italy back to where it belongs.' With Euro 2028 qualifying on the horizon, Mancini has time, backing and a young squad. Whether he is the right man will be decided on the pitch, but few in Italy are arguing with Desailly right now.