Pep Guardiola would need to adapt his approach if he takes charge of the Italian national team, so says Fabio Capello.

Guardiola is rumoured to be leaving Manchester City at the end of the season.

City, who lost out on the Premier League title to Arsenal after drawing with Bournemouth on Tuesday, round off their campaign on Sunday against Aston Villa.

It marks the first time in his managerial career that Guardiola, who has been at City since 2016, guiding them to 20 trophies, has not won a league title in consecutive seasons.

Guardiola has enjoyed immense success across his coaching career, but Capello feels the 55-year-old would need to change his style of management to be a success in international football, if he were to take up the vacant Italy job.

"He's a great coach with great quality. He's always done well at a club level," Capello told Gazzetta, as quoted by Football Italia.

"The national team [coach] is a different job; you don't work with the team every day, and that's where the difficulty lies.

"You are not a coach, you are a selector. Therefore, you must be good at finding the right players who can truly play for the national team the same way they do at their clubs.

"This is exactly the problem. Many players, when they put on the Italy shirt, tighten up.

"We are talking about a great coach, but if he needs two midfielders, they'll buy them for him; he's accustomed to this.

"Here, you don't find them; that's the difference. The team has to improve in a different way. He's a great coach, as his results and everything he's achieved show. He's a smart person, too. He might understand how to do it right away."

Italy's failure to qualify for the World Cup resulted in Gennaro Gattuso resigning.