Former Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci believes Pep Guardiola is the "right man for the job" to get the Azzurri back to their best.

Italy are looking for a new head coach after they failed to qualify for a third World Cup in a row, with Gennaro Gattuso stepping down from his position after their play-off final loss to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Guardiola's contract at Manchester City is not due to run out until June 2027, after he signed a two-year extension last year.

However, he has said in the past that he would be open to the idea of managing a national team after leaving the Premier League side, having been with City since 2016.

And Bonucci, who served as an assistant to Gattuso, is dreaming big with his choice for their next manager, claiming Italy need a household name in the dugout.

"If we want a radical change in the national team, I'd say the right man for the job is Pep Guardiola," Bonucci said.

"It's very difficult, but dreaming costs nothing."

Talking to Sky Sports, he added: "I read in the newspapers that Guardiola is a possibility, as is [Napoli's Antonio] Conte or [AC Milan's Massimiliano] Allegri.

"The most important [thing] is that there's a new chapter for Italian football and players.

"I love him [Guardiola], I think he's one of the best coaches in the world, so he could be very important for us."

The four-time World Cup winners are the first former champions to fail to qualify for three consecutive editions of FIFA's flagship tournament. 

The Azzurri have not played in the World Cup finals since 2014, when they were knocked out in the group stage, and have not played a knockout game at the tournament since lifting the trophy by beating France in 2006.

Though Italy won Euro 2020, Bonucci made it clear that a big shake-up is needed if they want to get back to regularly fighting for silverware.

"We need to have the courage to face up to what's happening so that we can regain the respect of the whole world and become that great national team that was world champion," he said.

"The important thing is to rebuild Italian football, starting from the ground up, starting with the defence.

"Italy needs time and a partnership between politics and football so that both can move in the same direction.

"There are young players with a lot of talent; we need to nurture them and let them develop and start afresh. The only magic formula is time."