The 42-year-old spent three years at Hillsborough as a player between 1996-99, netting 25 goals in 96 league games while they were still a Premier League side.
Now the Italian could return to South Yorkshire after the sacking of Dave Jones, but believes he is up against former team-mate Paolo Di Canio and ex-England Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce for the Wednesday hotseat.
"Yes it’s true," Carbone told FourFourTwo. "I’m very close, I’m waiting for a call. The chairman [Milan Mandaric] told me that a lot of coaches have applied for the job.
"I’m one of the favorite candidates. I think it will be a head-to-head between me, Paolo Di Canio and Stuart Pearce.
"Becoming Wednesday coach is what I want but it is not the only dream. It would be wonderful to start an adventure with the team and the supporters that loved me most in my whole career.
"Some days ago when I was in Sheffield to watch a match the audience gave me a great welcome. It’s a sign that I did something good for them when I was there."
After retiring at Pavia, Carbone took charge of the Italian side's under-19s before taking on the job full-time. He moved on to Serie B with Varese, but was sacked after just four months and now has the reins of non-league side Vallée d'Aoste.
And in Di Canio, Carbone is vying for the post with the man he played with for two years at Hillsborough, and formed a strong allegiance in the dressing room.
"The other players saw us as two Italians who came there to teach the others how to play football, for the fact that we were talented and famous," he says. "But they never created problems to us. They felt underrated but there has been a lot of chatter and not everything is true. Paolo and I were just very close."
