Italy's new coach Cesare Prandelli on Thursday promised to lead the Azzurri into a "positive" new era following their early World Cup exit in South Africa. "Quality players" will be a key ingredient in the national side's future success, he told journalists, ADN Kronos reported.
"I don't want to think about the problems but to set off optimistically. I want to bring forward quality players," he said.
"I don't have any recipes at the moment, just the will to start well."
Italians were badly rattled in June when defending champions Italy crashed out of the first round of the World Cup in a shock 2-3 defeat to Slovakia.
It only managed draws with Paraguay and New Zealand in its previous group-stage matches.
When the team returned to Italy after their demise, fans lambasted Azzurri players at Milan and Rome airports with shouts of "shame."
"I want to transform the negativity into something positive," said Prandelli.
Prandelli officially succeeded Marcello Lippi as coach on Thursday on a four-year contract, with his first match against the Ivory Coast set for 10 August.
"I accepted this challenge in a split second because you can't turn down an offer to coach the national team," said Prandelli.
He did not rule out immigrants playing for the Italian national team.
"If they have Italian citizenship and are outstanding players, I see no reason why they should not play," Prandelli stated.
Prandelli, a former Atalanta and Juventus midfielder, agreed to take over the Italian national job in May following successful periods as manager of Serie A teams Parma, Roma and Fiorentina.
The 52-year-old paid tribute to Lippi, who led Italy to World Cup victory in 2006.
"I want to salute Marcello Lippi, who is a World Cup-winning coach," said Prandelli.
Lippi was insulted by disgruntled fans during a sailing trip around islands off the coast of Tuscany, the website Sportmediaset.it reported on Thursday.
Italy have won the World Cup four times and were last eliminated in the first round 36 years ago.