Gianluigi Buffon dealt a heavy blow to the Italian Football Federation, after deciding to reject an offer to return to the technical staff of the senior national team, at a time when the Azzurri are living through one of their darkest historical periods.

La Gazzetta dello Sport revealed that Paolo Maldini, technical director of the Italian federation, contacted Buffon directly and offered him a working position within the 'Club Italia' project, the entity responsible for overseeing all national teams.

Maldini was counting on Buffon's popularity and vast experience, as he is the all-time most capped player for Italy and the last goalkeeper to win the World Cup, in addition to his deep knowledge of the current generation, to lead the rebuilding phase after the disaster of elimination from the World Cup qualifying playoffs against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Buffon had previously held the position of coordinator of the Italian national team, before resigning along with coach Gennaro Gattuso and federation president Gabriele Gravina, following the failure to qualify for the World Cup for the third consecutive time last March.

Although the Italian legend studied the offer seriously, he told Maldini that the time is not right to return, preferring to continue staying away from football since his departure last April, and to devote himself to his family and continue his studies in preparation for an administrative future.