Joe Montemurro is one of the hottest coaching prospects in the world right now and he is far from ruling out coaching the Matildas at the 2023 Women's World Cup.
Pep, as he's affectionately known, first broke out in arguably the greatest W-League tenure of all time at Melbourne City and his work since at Arsenal has been nothing short of magnificent.
He'll lead his increasingly Aussie-flavoured Arsenal side out this Saturday against PSG in the Champions League quarterfinal, with Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley and Lydia Williams all in the squad.
But with Montemurro unsurprisingly on the Matildas coaching shortlist for the 2023 World Cup, whether or not he prefers his current Arsenal gig to the national team - or whether he could potentially do both - remains up in the air. Not that he's ruling anything out.
"It would be a great privilege", he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"There’s been no official approach that I can think about. To be honest, my mindset isn’t even thinking that way. Obviously it would be a great privilege and would be a great feather in the cap to take your team to a home World Cup but I haven’t even thought about it," he said. "My allegiance and work lies with Arsenal and I am here at a Champions League quarter-final."
But his diplomatic responses as they may be, Montemurro is clearly extremely proud to be an Australian coach at this level.
"I am honoured and privileged as an Australian coach to be the first coaching in a Champions League and at this latter stage," Montemurro said. "It sends an important message to Australian football that we are capable, we are good enough to be coaching and playing at the world's highest level. We need to build on this so let's hope that we get our structures right and our systems right back home so we can go forward."
As for the increasing Australian presence at the pinnacle of women's football, Montemurro isn't surprised.
"It just shows that we have got players of a world standard," he said. "They just need to be given an opportunity and they want to be put on in pressured situations."
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