Former Italian FA (FIGC) president Carlo Tavecchio has said Antonio Conte would have stayed as Italy coach after Euro 2016 had it not been for a shortage of funds.
The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) reduced funding to the FIGC in 2015, and Tavecchio said that was the main reason why Conte quit to join Chelsea.
"Do you realise what I'm saying? Conte would have stayed if we had had the economic backing to pay him," he told Sportitalia.
"But CONI kept €30 million which it gave to federations, reducing what was €80m to €36-37m when I was there. That's a lot of money.
"We could have paid for Conte -- even Pele -- with that. With Conte, we would never have stayed at home [this summer] instead of going to the World Cup."
Tavecchio resigned as FIGC president following Italy's failure to reach the World Cup, and said he had been in the process of lining up Conte for a return before his departure.
"I would have done whatever it took with all of the sponsors in the world, and I would definitely have got Conte," he said.
"I would have knocked on every door and there were already sponsors ready to bring Conte back."
Tavecchio also defended the decision to appoint Gian Piero Ventura as Conte's successor and said it had been Marcello Lippi's idea.
"We were at [CONI president Giovanni] Malago's home and this is where the name of Ventura was decided, together with another person who was Lippi," Tavecchio said.
"Everybody was happy with Ventura, nobody excluded, so much so that we discussed it all over dinner.
"Ventura did what everybody asked him to do. If you ask me, Ventura failed from a technical point of view.
"Politically, ethically and morally he should have resigned that night [after elimination], but clearly he saw things differently to me. Yes, he's received all of his wages."