Carlo Ancelotti told reporters this week that he’s planning to manage a club, rather than a national side, with Roberto Mancini in line for the Italy job.

Last month, soon after Arsene Wenger announced his departure from Arsenal, the media ran a story claiming the Italian national team were making an offer to Ancelotti to take over as manager.

At the time, we pointed out that the Italian had previously distanced himself from the national job. It seemed pretty likely he would turn it down again, and now he has. Instead, Mancini appears to be about to take up the role.

“He is a great manager with a lot of experience worldwide,” Ancelotti said of the 53-year-old. “The national job would be in very good hands. I personally have decided to manage a club.

“I don’t know if it will be in Italy or abroad, but I could also carry on as things are because there aren’t many concrete possibilities. Something will come up.”

Again, as we said last month, it seems Sky were just taking advantage of the speculation around Arsenal to run the Ancelotti story. It was never particularly likely he would take over the national team.

For now though, it doesn’t seem particularly likely he’ll take over at Arsenal either. The rumours have really died down recently, and whilst David Ornstein didn’t specifically rule him out, like he has with some other names, he also didn’t give him a mention as a likely candidate.

My feeling is that Arsenal are looking for either an exciting young manager or someone who would unite the fans with their impressive background. I don’t think Ancelotti tops either list right now, but we’ll see.