Report: Spalletti agrees to take Juve job after ill-fated Italy spell
Veteran head coach Luciano Spalletti is on the verge of being unveiled as the new Juventus boss on a deal that runs until the end of the season, according to soccer insider Fabrizio Romano.
The contract reportedly includes an option to extend if Juve qualify for the Champions League.
Igor Tudor was sacked as head coach Monday with the Turin club on an eight-game winless run, compounded by consecutive away defeats to Como, Real Madrid, and Lazio. Juve are 25th out of 36 teams in the opening phase of the Champions League.
Juventus beat Udinese 3-1 at the Allianz Stadium on Wednesday. Massimo Brambilla, who oversees the club's Next Gen team, served as interim boss for the match. The result improved Juve's Serie A record to 15 points from nine matches, six points adrift of league-leading Napoli.
Spalletti has managed nine different clubs, including two separate stints with both Udinese and Roma, and over four years with Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia. He won the Coppa Italia twice in his first spell with Roma and won four trophies with Zenit, but guiding Napoli to the 2022-23 Serie A title is widely considered his finest moment in the dugout.
The 66-year-old was dismissed as Italy coach in June amid a faltering World Cup qualification campaign, but he signed off with a 2-0 win over Moldova. He was also in charge for the Azzurri's round-of-16 elimination at Euro 2024. Since Spalletti departed the role, his successor Gennaro Gattuso has revived Italy's hopes of World Cup qualification by following the Moldova match with four more wins.
"Juventus are a great club with a great history," Spalletti said Tuesday, per La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Everyone would gladly coach Juventus."