Sebastian Giovinco is back in the Italy squad to face Ukraine and Poland, but the Toronto FC hero’s agent is “not surprised.”
The Atomic Ant was named in Roberto Mancini’s list of players for the upcoming Ukraine friendly and Nations League trip to Poland.
It was the 31-year-old’s first call-up since October 2015, where he played in Italy’s 2-1 win against Norway in Euro 2016 qualifying.
Sebastian Giovinco is back in the Italy squad to face Ukraine and Poland, but the Toronto FC hero’s agent is “not surprised.”
The Atomic Ant was named in Roberto Mancini’s list of players for the upcoming Ukraine friendly and Nations League trip to Poland.
It was the 31-year-old’s first call-up since October 2015, where he played in Italy’s 2-1 win against Norway in Euro 2016 qualifying.
“It’s the Nazionale that has been missing out, not him,” agent Andrea D’Amico insisted on RMC Sport.
“His performances aren’t just great now, but even before he decided to leave Italy. Once he got to Toronto and took them to win the league title, then enter the American version of the Champions League, people were stunned he wasn’t getting called up by Italy.”
Giovinco took Toronto FC to their first MLS Cup and has scored 82 goals in just 139 appearances for the Canadian club.
“I am not surprised by this call-up. It’s true that Coaches don’t like to view players outside of Europe, but they have to get a complete picture.
“Gian Piero Ventura told me that MLS wasn’t a difficult enough league for Giovinco to be in good shape, but then he failed to take Italy to the World Cup by losing to Sweden.
“I had hoped that would be a wake-up call for Italian football to realise it needed to reform the system, but instead there are teams in Serie A who play with 10 foreigners in the starting XI.
“We have to figure out if the Nazionale is still important. If it is, then we need to re-evaluate Italian players. If it isn’t, then I guess we continue like this. I expected new rules and norms, otherwise we are back to square one.”