​🇮🇹 Is Pirlo the right Italy boss? Why Maldini made this choice ✍️The now all-but-certain appointment of Andrea Pirlo as the new head coach of the national team raises a question: “Why him, exactly?” It’s a fair question. More than fair, in fact—it’s necessary.Because his CV is hardly dazzling, his profile has deflated the fans’ excitement, and now it seems as if everything is already being written off before it has even begun. But there is more sense in this choice than people think, regardless of how it ends.Pirlo’s CVA month ago, Andrea Pirlo claimed that he has always “achieved the objectives set for him”: 4th place with Juventus, the playoffs with Sampdoria, 7th place with Fatih Karagümrük (though in reality he was sacked while in 9th place), and then promotion from the UAE Serie B by finishing 2nd.That really is quite an impressive résumé—if you read it backwards. Because read left to right, it looks like the story of Benjamin Button: it starts where most careers end and then develops in reverse, all the way back to having to learn the ropes in lower divisions, even in minor leagues.But in the middle, we never saw him at his physical peak: where is Andrea Pirlo’s prime? It never happened. Not yet, at least.To be fair, Pirlo has always achieved the targets set by his clubs. And yet, in order, he was dismissed by Juve; sacked by Samp after just three matches of the new season; fired in Turkey with three games to go; and now he will leave United FC voluntarily (for the first time). In between came an involuntary break, a year out after Juve. Why? “I know, but I don’t want to say,” he replied. Mic drop.Looking at the numbers on Pirlo’s CV, we can see that he has often produced excellent attacks alongside dreadful defenses (except for last season), but that too is a purely technical point. Because behind this choice there is a broader vision.His legitimacy doesn’t rest on his CV alonePirlo’s résumé may ultimately matter only so much, because he will not be asked to be the Deus ex machina of a group of players. He will be asked to serve as the long-term technical lead of a rebuilding project: Paolo Maldini’s project.Pirlo’s legitimacy with the national team will not rest solely on his immense career as a player, nor will he find it in that season on the Juventus bench, but rather in being a functional member of the “new Italy system.”Maldini and Leonardo’s national team needs a profile capable of growing together with their project: someone able to coach, to have his own ideas (excellent attacks and poor defenses for Pirlo, so far), and above all to be able to change those ideas, perhaps even advising those above him. After all, they’re all friends.Why wasn’t Conte called?What absolutely had to be avoided was excessive pressure on a group already worn out by nerves, which over the years (and World Cups) have turned into fear. In short, Maldini’s plan needs: dialogue, restraint, q