Roma director Walter Sabatini has admitted that that Catania coach Vicenzo Montella is on the short list to become Roma’s manager next season.
Montella, who played for Roma from 1999 to 2009, is currently in charge of Catania and led them to a respectable 11th-placed finish in the Serie A this season.
The former Italy international also had a brief spell in charge of Roma towards the end of last season when he took over from Claudio Ranieri as caretaker coach, and Sabatini admits Montella is a strong candidate to replace the outgoing Luis Enrique.
“We are thinking about Montella,” Sabatini told Mediaset Premium. “He did very well at Roma and is doing very well at Catania, but he is under a contract.
“We will try to negotiate with Catania, but he is only one of the candidates.”
While Sabatini says that Montella is just one candidate, it is clear that their is interest buy both parties for Montella to move back to the capital.
Montella has said that he still has a soft spot for the Giallorossi telling Sky Sports Italia:
“They [Catania] know my weakness for the team, given my past, first as a player and then a coach. Let’s see if the interest is real first; then I will speak to the president to see what he can do.”
If for some reason Roma cannot pry Montella from Catania, then they might well look outside Italy for their next coach as Sabatini also refused to rule out the possibility of Roma going for Athletic Bilbao coach Marcelo Bielsa.
“Marcelo Bielsa? This is not a matter of nationality, we will decide regardless of that.”
Despite Sunday’s 3-2 win over Cesena , Roma ended a very disappointing season in 7th place and will not be playing in the Europa League next season.