Marcello Lippi, Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning coach, would welcome an approach to manage a Premier League club after two seasons out of the game, reports The Guardian.

Lippi, a Champions League winner and five-time Serie A champion during two stints with Juventus between 1994 and 2004, speaks no English and has never worked outside Italy, but says he no longer sees language as an insurmountable barrier.

"[Working in the Premier League] could be an interesting experience," Lippi said. "If a club were to come to me, we could talk."

Lippi, who was in London to collect an award for his contribution to Italian culture at the La Dolce Vita Festival, insisted that he might equally consider a move to Real Madrid, but English football has long intrigued him. Although he turned down Birmingham City last season, Lippi acknowledged having thought about a move to England as early as the late 1990s, and discussed it with Sir Alex Ferguson and Gerard Houllier early this decade.

"I'm ready to return to management this summer," added Lippi, who has been working as a pundit on Sky Italia's Champions League coverage. "I still see my future on a football pitch for a few years yet - as soon as there's a solution which I like, one that interests me."