Alberico Evani has worked alongside Roberto Mancini at the highest level of international football, sharing in Italy's European Championship triumph in 2021. Yet the man he encountered as a coach was not quite the man he remembered from his playing days.
“Roberto is a coach just as he was as a player: a winner," Evani tells Football Presse. "I have to say he surprised me when I started working with him, because as a player he was much more difficult in terms of character.
“As a coach, he was very calm, very composed. He transmitted security. He has excellent technical and tactical knowledge, and he has great charisma, which means he is always able to bring the players onto his side.
“He is one of those coaches who has won wherever he has been. A few weeks ago he had also won in Qatar. It may be a less important competition, but it is still a victory. Winning is always difficult, wherever you go.”
Mancini's ability to inspire confidence was central to Evani's assessment when he was asked whether his former colleague could return to the Italy job. At the time of the interview, Evani could not know whether such a move would happen, but he was clear about why Mancini would be a credible candidate.
“I don't know about his return. He is one of the possible candidates because he already knows the environment and he has already won.
“It is true that he left, but that counts for little. If you need a coach, you have to find someone credible, someone important, who can help you start again. He is certainly one of the best.”
The Italian Football Federation confirmed Mancini's return in July 2026, bringing back the coach who led the Azzurri to the European title at Wembley in 2021. Evani's testimony offers a personal perspective on the leadership qualities Italy are turning to again.
From youth development to European champions
Evani's own journey to the senior national team was built through years of coaching at different levels. He began in AC Milan's youth sector, where he found particular satisfaction in helping young players develop both on and off the pitch.
“I began coaching in Milan's youth sector, and I really enjoyed working with young players because I was able to give back what football had given me. I tried to help many boys achieve their dreams.
“I always tried to teach them technique and tactics, but also behaviour, education, and how to be part of a group, a team. Fortunately, some of them reached high levels, and I am happy. That is my reward for everything I tried to do for them.”
He subsequently worked with Italy's Under-18, Under-19 and Under-20 teams. His Under-20 side finished third at the 2017 World Cup in South Korea, before Mancini offered him the opportunity to join the senior national-team staff.
“Mancini asked me to be his assistant. It was another journey, even though I feel more like a coach than a collaborator.
“But I had a lot of experience, I knew many of the players, so I made myself available. I gave my contribution and we managed to achieve an almost unthinkable European Championship victory. It was a great satisfaction.”
The distinction Evani makes between being a coach and a collaborator is important. He accepted the assistant's role because he believed he could contribute, bringing his experience and knowledge of the players to a team that would go on to win one of the biggest prizes in international football.
The spirit that made Italy champions
For Evani, Italy's European Championship success was about more than technical quality. He believes the team's unity, seriousness and collective commitment allowed them to overcome opponents who could boast greater individual ability.
Asked to compare winning the Euros with saving Sampdoria from relegation, he described both as major achievements and refused to rank one above the other.
“They were two great achievements. I wouldn't say which was more difficult. Both were difficult, although eventually things became easier.
“With the national team, these are things that start difficult but then become easier, thanks to the commitment and seriousness of the players, and the atmosphere that develops between the staff and the players — becoming one, being united.
“That spirit of sacrifice, which we talk about so often, allowed us to win. We were not the best. There were teams that were perhaps superior technically, above all, but we made up for that with a spirit that only we had.”
It is a revealing explanation from someone who was inside the dressing room and involved in the daily work of the coaching staff. Evani does not attribute the triumph to one tactical innovation or an individual player. Instead, he describes a collective identity that developed between the staff and the squad, allowing Italy to achieve something he considered almost unthinkable.
That experience also shaped his understanding of management. The ability to bring people together, build confidence and make players understand their responsibilities was just as important in a relegation fight as it was in an international tournament.
The Sampdoria challenge — and the disappointment of leaving
After leaving the Italian federation, Evani did not follow Mancini to Saudi Arabia. Instead, he accepted the opportunity to return to Sampdoria, a club he knew from his playing days, with the task of trying to save them.
It was an exceptionally difficult assignment. Evani arrived as the fourth coach of the season with only six matches remaining, taking over a team he described as being in pieces and short of confidence. He accepted the challenge because of his connection to the club and his respect for its supporters.
“I accepted that challenge precisely because I had already been at Sampdoria. I know the environment, I know the prestige of that club, and I know the affection and passion that the supporters put into it. So I tried to give everything I could.
“We managed to save ourselves in the play-outs against Salernitana, and that is another satisfaction I carry in my heart.”
But survival did not lead to the continuation Evani wanted. For a coach who had already experienced the rewards of international success, the opportunity to build something at club level was important to his own career.
“It was a shame that there wasn't a possibility to continue, because it would have been important for me, wonderful for my coaching career. But it ended there.
“I hope now to find another opportunity, another chance, because it is what I like doing and I would like to continue doing it.”
His disappointment was compounded by his belief that Sampdoria should be capable of achieving much more. He pointed to the club's support, stadium and prestige, while acknowledging the management difficulties it had experienced in recent years. For Evani, the rescue mission was a meaningful achievement, but it was not the end of his ambitions.
Why Evani wants to work abroad
Evani remains open to opportunities in Italy and elsewhere, with the possibility of coaching abroad particularly attractive. He had wanted to experience another country during his playing career but never had the opportunity, at a time when Italian football attracted more overseas players than Italians moved abroad.
“Look, I am open to everything, in the sense that I would also like to have an experience abroad. I would already have liked to do that as a player, but I never had that possibility because, in those days, it was not yet the trend.
“There were more foreigners coming to Italy than Italians going abroad. Now I would like to go to a country where I can learn, adapt and improve.”
His ambitions are consistent with the approach he took to youth development: a willingness to learn, an emphasis on education and a desire to help others progress. Working with Mancini gave him experience of an international team that reached the summit of European football, but it did not extinguish his desire to lead a team himself.
Mancini now has another opportunity to rebuild Italy and draw on the experience that delivered the European Championship. Evani, meanwhile, wants the chance to continue his own journey as a head coach.
His verdict on Mancini is rooted in what he witnessed first-hand: a winner whose composure, tactical knowledge and charisma earned the trust of his players. For Evani, those qualities helped Italy become champions. His next challenge is to take what he has learned and prove what he can achieve in charge of a team of his own.