“I would have wanted to face them all — but not Italy. Let alone twice in a few days. I know I will be very emotional.” Vincenzo Montella has been Turkey’s national team manager for three years, called in originally as an emergency to secure qualification for Euro 2024 — mission accomplished, and impressively, reaching the quarter-finals to widespread applause. The World Cup in America was less positive. And yet Montella remains in the dugout — “because I believe they assessed my whole body of work, not just the World Cup.”
“Italy Has Changed a Great Deal — But So Have We”
On the two countries entering the Nations League break from very different psychological positions: “The situation for Italy is, in all honesty, extraordinary in its severity. It can happen — but three successive World Cups without qualification is unimaginable. There was also a little bad luck: you arrive at every decisive match without serenity, with too much anxiety. But I sense great enthusiasm — a new manager who knows how to work with young players and even anticipates them, as his first cycle demonstrated.”
On Mancini: “We don’t see each other often but there is esteem, respect, and affection. We played together at Sampdoria. I believe in him — he has the experience and the knowledge to bring Italy back to the highest level. He is the right person.”
“Without Çalhanoğlu and Yıldız It Is Not the Same Turkey”
The two most important absentees from Montella’s squad received their own assessment — blunt and entirely honest. “At the start we will also be missing Müldür. It will be a test for the new players — and with four matches in the format, everything becomes considerably harder.” The implication for both games against Italy is clear: Turkey at full strength is a different proposition from Turkey without their two most influential creative figures.
“Yıldız’s True Role? At His Age You Transform — He Can Play the Ten from the Wing”
On the question that has been circulating throughout Italian football since Spalletti declared him the strongest player in Serie A — whether Yıldız is a classical number ten or something more like a wide forward in the Del Piero tradition: “Even when Alessandro started out, the Baggio comparisons were everywhere. There is the talent, there are the qualities of a great player. Yıldız will become one of the world’s best. Perhaps today Kenan is not a classical number ten — but at that age you change, you transform. And you can play the ten even starting from the wing, cutting inside.”
The football intelligence of Montella’s observation is precise: the Del Piero comparison the interviewer raises is not dismissed but complicated. Del Piero himself evolved from a wide position into the number ten role across his career. Yıldız, at 22, is still mid-transformation.
“The Esonero Was Possible — the Federation Looked Beyond It, Towards the Future”
The passage that will resonate most with managers facing criticism after difficult results was entirely personal and self-aware. “The dismissal was possible. But they did not judge me for those two World Cup matches — they judged my full body of work. I arrived when Turkey could not qualify for a European Championship and we won our group. We played a great final phase. We went to the World Cup after twenty-four years. And for the first time we are in the Nations League’s top tier. The federation looked beyond — towards the future.”
“Turkey Invests in Sport Long-Term — the Strongest Country in Europe Right Now”
On the broader context of a Turkey that has become one of European football’s most active and ambitious markets: “I have been in Turkey for five years and I feel at home. They respect me and esteem me. Turkey, at this moment, is perhaps Europe’s most dynamic young country — it is growing everywhere and invests enormously in sport. Here everything is planned for the long term.” On the clubs specifically: “Yes — and not only on established players like Vlahović. Also young talent. And managers: Vincenzo Italiano is now at Beşiktaş. Vincenzo is outstanding — we speak often.”
“Italy’s Strongest Player? Donnarumma — Scoring Against Gigio Is a Real Problem”
The closing exchange carried two questions. On Italy’s strongest player: “Many. But above all Donnarumma. Scoring a goal past Gigio is genuinely a problem.” And on Turkey’s strongest player? A smile, a pause, and the most diplomatic possible deflection: “I will never tell you that.”
