Defender Danilo (31) emphasized the need for Brazil’s senior players to take on leadership roles as the team operates without a permanent manager.
The Brazilian Football Association (CBF) is still in pursuit of Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti to fill the coaching position left vacant since Tite’s resignation following Brazil’s quarter-final exit in the 2022 World Cup.
In their upcoming match against Guinea in Barcelona, the five-time world champions will be guided by Under-20 manager Ramon Menezes, who also oversaw their 2-1 defeat to Morocco in April.
Danilo expressed that the more experienced players should shoulder greater responsibility during this interim period while the search for a new manager continues.
“Of course the subject surrounding our next manager has dominated everything, because it’s normal that it does,” Danilo said on Friday, after six of the first seven questions of his press conference were about Ancelotti.
“At this moment, when there is caution in deciding who will be the next coach, it is time for us, the more experienced players, to give back for what we have already received from the national team.
“We have the obligation to give a little bit more to maintain stability for those young players who are getting their first opportunities.”
CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues said on Tuesday that he would hold talks with Ancelotti’s representatives and the club this week and did not rule out waiting until July 2024 to appoint him as coach.
Danilo said that Rodrigues met with the leaders of the Brazil squad that included him, Casemiro, Marquinhos and Alisson, to consult on the possibility of going through the next 12 months with a caretaker manager so the Italian could take over with two years to prepare for the 2026 World Cup.
The Juventus player said they appreciated the opportunity to have their voice heard, but insisted that it was not their job to pick the manager.
“Right now our role is to make whatever the president decides work,” Danilo added.
“This way we will have more tranquillity to work. The president is a guy who listens a lot, is always present and active.”