Roberto Mancini has stated his ambition to coach Italy and hit out at the new owners of Inter for bringing his time at the club to an end.
The 52-year-old left Inter by mutual agreement in August 2016 after less than two years in charge, with the club's incoming Chinese owners opting to appoint Frank de Boer for a short-lived stint.
Mancini has been out of work since leaving the club, but expressed his desire to succeed Gian Piero Ventura as manager of the Azzurri and nurture the country's new crop of talented players.
He told Corriere dello Sport: "Romantically, for many reasons, I would love to be the coach of the nazionale.
"There are many talented young Italian players coming through and I think in a couple of years we could see a really good Azzurri side.
"Domenico Berardi is very strong, then there’s Federico Bernardeschi, Federico Chiesa, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Manuel Locatelli and Roberto Gagliardini of Inter."
Mancini had taken Inter to the top of Serie A in the previous season before securing a fourth-place finish, but the former Manchester City coach said the takeover by Suning Commerce Group spoiled his plans for the club.
He reflected on his time at San Siro, saying: "It was still a good experience. I worked a year-and-a-half, we built a good team and then we broke up because I think the conditions to work well and to work together were no longer there.
"The owners came from another continent and they do not know so much about Italian football. It became a bit difficult to work and to understand that another season Inter could fight for the top.
"Maybe it's better for everyone that we separated."
