If he's not the name on everybody's lips, he should be. 

Joe Montemurro isn't just one of the rising stars of Australian coaching, he's one of the best coaches in women's football right now.

A former Brunswick Zebras midfielder, who spent some time at Swiss side Neuchatel Xamax as a youth before a short and undecorated spell in the Italian lower leagues rounded out his playing career, moved into coaching in his early 30s. 

After a brief spell with then-Brunswick Juventus, an Italian club close to Montemurro's heart, he moved into a youth role with the famed Green Gully and Melbourne Knights academies in the Victorian NPL. 

“We kept together with the Italian immigrant social groups and cultural groups,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“I spoke Italian as a young child, still speak it now. When you’re developing as a child, you’re sort of torn between the two cultures, because you spend a time with the Australian culture in school and then go home and spend time with the Italian culture.

"But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I got to learn two beautiful languages, knowing two beautiful cultures.”

Montemurro was clearly a naturally gifted, tactically astute coach from an early age. A successful stint in head coaching followed; first he saved Sunshine George Cross from relegation, then earned Coburg City promotion.

Soon he was leading South Melbourne's juniors to an undefeated Championship season (forming a habit of invincibility that continues to this day). 

He has UEFA A and UEFA Pro Licences that he earned in Florence, Italy, alongside a Master of Sports Coaching from Queensland University. 

The switch to women's football came from Melbourne Victory, who appointed him head of their W-League side. In his first season, they were runner-ups and he was quickly off to Melbourne City, which would prove the making of Montemurro.

Montemurro with Melbourne City

With the relative wealth of resources City's W-League side, Montemurro's organisational power came to the fore. In his first season City were Champions, in their second they won the double, undefeated.

It was little surprise to many involved in the women's game when in 2017, with England's top clubs seeking to expand their women's football operations and Arsenal Women (formely Arsenal Ladies) trying to hold on to their traditional dominance, Montemurro left for Europe, to take over the Gunners.

After making the FFA Cup final in front of 45,000 people in his debut season, last campaign Arsenal retook the title from Chelsea in dramatic, dominant fashion. He was named the WSL's Manager of the Year for his efforts.

Montemurro has the kind of coaching flexibility you would expect from an obsessive student of the world game.

He's of Italian heritage and completed his coaching courses in Italy, so clearly the Azzuri have a clear role to play here. His Arsenal side, famed for their resolute defending, adopt specific elements of the catenaccio style - they're well-drilled, highly disciplined outfits whose players can most notably fit a variety of different positions.

Montemurro's keen on rotation and flexibility in his sides; fullbacks and wingers regularly interchange, but notably they often move inside the midfield as well, while a number six one day can nominally act as a number 10 the next.

But Italian pragmatism is far from the be all and end all of Montemurro, as he says, he "doesn't park the bus". 

He says he views global football as a pick n mix, adopting the “styles, influences, cultures, the way teams play. The AC Milans of the early 90s, the Dutch teams in the early 80s and late 70s, South American football and the freedom, the fluidity."

He's even been compared to Pep Guardiola in his insistence on possession, but perhaps this is best served to illustrate his tactical flexibility.

In the 4-1-4-1 formation Montemurro plays at Arsenal, the wide positions are of great importance, with a huge responsibility placed at the feet of a holding midfielder.

For this reason, while the formations and tactics are different, the reliance on the Matildas key strengths; Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Elise Kellond-Knight, Ellie Carpenter, would likely be similar.

What might change is Kerr's role within the team, with a rotational forward able to hold possession, rather than a finisher with bursting pace, likely to be higher on Montemurro's agenda. 

“There’s no freaks in football,” Montemurro told The Guardian. “There’s planning, there’s the ability to work hard, and obviously there’s confidence.

"What I try to do is provide players with opportunities where they can express themselves, where they can be the best that they can be.

“We’re always on the front foot, we’ve always got the ball, and if it looks as if we’re leaky in defence we’ve only copped nine goals in the whole league. 

"We’re proactive and when a team takes risks, when a team goes forward, when a team pushes defenders into midfield, maybe there’s going to be one opportunity. That’s the risk we take. 

"But we believe that having the ball and the chances we create outweighs the chances that our opponents will have.”

The Matildas are still reeling from the controversial loss of an established coach, with Milicic neither having time to prepare, nor knowledge of women's football.

Instead, this is a gaze towards a brighter future. After all, Milicic has already announced his departure towards the end of the next A-League season to take the reigns of new expansion club, Macarthur FC.

But would Montemurro take the role? Possibly not.

While Matildas fans would likely love to have a coach of Montemurro's pedigree take over the national team, he has an extremely comfortable, well-paid job at the pinnacle of women's sport already. 

Europe, as we've seen so far in this tournament, is quickly becoming the force in the women's game it should be and has already taken over the sport in Australia in terms of funding and popularity. Montemurro has his sights firmly set on the Champions League.

Arsenal Women flatly rejected any hint of Montemurro taking over the Matildas role on an interim basis during the World Cup as well.

But the Aussie has hinted that homesickness may be a factor; his family haven't moved to England and he says without them, he can't switch off from the game.

So while it may not be a post-World Cup appointment, there may be bright signs for a Montemurro Matildas on the horizon.

COACHING RECORD

Melbourne Victory

W-League Runner-up 2014

Melbourne City

2015–16 Premiers

2015–16 Champions

2016–17 Champions

Arsenal FC

2018 FA Womens Cup Runners Up

2018 Toulouse International Ladies Cup Champions

2018/19 WSL Champions

2018/19 LMA/WSL Manager of the Year