Fiorentina manager Prandelli offered Italy coach

World champions Italy have offered Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli the chance to succeed Marcello Lippi as national team boss after the World Cup.

Lippi, 61, hinted back in March that he would probably step down after next month's tournament in South Africa.

Lippi won five Serie A titles and capped it by winning the World Cup.

"Fiorentina director Andrea Della Valle has told Italian Federation president Giancarlo Abete that the decision lies with the coach," said a club statement.

"In the interests of the team and the fans, Fiorentina ask that the situation is cleared up as soon as possible so we can plan for the future."

Abete has always maintained that a decision on who would coach Italy in the Euro 2012 qualifiers would be made before the team flies out to South Africa on 8 June, three days before the World Cup finals start.

The 52-year-old Prandelli, who is Serie A's longest-serving coach having been at Fiorentina since 2005, has managed to turn around La Viola from being relegation strugglers into qualifiers for the Champions League.

He has also managed Parma and Roma for a brief spell before leaving to care for his sick wife who later died.

Lippi stepped down after the 2006 World Cup but returned in 2008 after Roberto Donadoni quit following a poor performance in the European Championships.

Gary Neville has questioned England manager Fabio Capello's decision to pick Liverpool's Glen Johnson as his sole right-back for the World Cup

Johnson has established himself as England's first-choice right-back under Capello, but suffered an injury-interrupted second half of the season.

And Neville said: "I'm surprised there is only one right-back in the squad."

Neville also labelled attempts to lure Paul Scholes out of international retirement "a bit desperate".

Despite failing in his attempt to bring Scholes back into the England fold, Capello did persuade Liverpool's Jamie Carragher to return to the squad three years after his own international retirement.

And although Carragher has played the majority of his career at centre-back, his ability to cover either full-back position was seemingly key in Capello's decision to overlook Manchester United's Neville and Wes Brown.

However, Neville argued that Brown, who started at right-back when England beat Egypt in their last fixture as Johnson recovered from knee ligament damage, was unlucky to miss out.

"I wouldn't say I'm overly disappointed not to be named in the initial 30-man squad, although I did think there was maybe a chance I could get in," added Neville, who made 15 Premier League starts last season but failed to add to his 85 England caps.

"I'm probably more surprised Wes Brown isn't in the 30, to be honest."

Scholes, who retired from international football in 2004, appeared set for a return of his own before eventually rejecting Capello's overtures.

And Neville admitted that courting Scholes made sense, even if it was unlikely to succeed.

"I'm not surprised Capello tried to get him out of retirement because if there's one player I would try to pull out of retirement it's Scholes," Neville said of his team-mate and fellow 35-year-old.

"Capello maybe got a bit desperate at the last minute and wanted Scholes because he's still probably the best midfielder in England, but Scholes decided to stick to his guns."

Meanwhile, Manchester City have confirmed that midfielder Gareth Barry has been sleeping in an oxygen tent in an attempt to speed up his recovery from an ankle injury.

Capello remains hopeful that Barry will be fit for England's second World Cup group game against Algeria on 18 June.

Before that the Italian is set to assess defenders Ledley King and Jamie Carragher in the sold-out friendly against Mexico at Wembley on 24 May.

Neither have played for England since the end of Steve McClaren's reign in 2007.