Juventus and Italy captain Giorgio Chiellini said he ‘might’ play for the Azzurri at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The Bianconeri hero helped the Azzurri pick up a big win at the Euros this summer, going all the way with a win over England on penalties in the Final at Wembley.
Chiellini has turned 37, but doesn’t rule out that he will play a part during the World Cup next year.
“The numbers say that I’m quite well at the moment,” Chiellini said at Italian Tech Week, according to TMW.
“If I do well and I’m lucky enough to have continuity over the next year, I might as well be there. But we need to think about the present and not too much about the future.”
Chiellini signed a new deal until June 2023 with Juventus and has played three times in Serie A this term.
He should go and rest so youngsters like Bastoni can have a chance,I hate it when these old men block opportunities for young lads
Serie a has become a retirement village for old highly paid players beyond their used by date. This is holding back the young players in many countries not only in China Italy but across Europe.
First, let’s hope Italia qualifies in Nov. There are 2 remaining matches v. Switerland and N. Ireland.
Chiellini has been Italy’s and the Serie A’s best defender of the last decade. If he was 3 years younger he would be the first selected. But he will be 38 by the time of the WC and I think the Euros were his last hurrah. His body is unlikely to make it there. It’s a difficult decision by Mancini as he really needs to make up his mind on this fairly quickly so as to give the likes of Bastoni and Mancini plenty of playing time. I think it will be difficult for Italy to remove both Chiellini and Bonucci from the squad due to their presence and experience, so a CB pairing of Bonucci and Bastoni/Mancini could work well.
@dionisios
Whats holding back the youngsters is the state of Serie A not Chiellini.
The fact Serie A is packed solid with every average rated foreign player. It makes no sense to me to see teams field a 18-20 year old from South America, Africa or basically anywhere except Italy. We need to stop looking for the next Maradonna or Messi or Pele and just get on with overhauling Serie A making the relevant changes to stop a team fielding 95% non Italian players. It’s brilliant to see Serie A back on BT sport I watched a game last week it was like an international friendly between Africa and south American all stars. We have created stars for other nations and forgotten about our own home grown talent
@Jez
Yes, you are absolutely correct.
Agree with all of the comments. Except 1.
– First, aboveall, Italy must win the NL and secure qualification to the World Cup.
– Way too many AVERAGE or below average foreigners in the league. Nobody minded the likes of Zidane, Scheva, Rui Costa, Seedorf, Kaka, Milito, Zanetti. But the average foreigners do NOT improve the product and there are dozens of players in B who are at the same level. This is not an issue of racism or xenophobia as I can give examples from other countries.
– Bastoni needs to be playing from here on out AFTER we secure qualification.
But with who? Bonucci? Acerb8 scares. NO NO NO to Glanluca Mancini. He is too slow (if you saw the recent Derby you will agree). I couldn’t believe just how slow he is.
I legit am pressed to know who would be Bastoni’s CB partner.
– I love Chiellini but if you saw the 1 mistakes each versus Mian (Rebic) and versus Samp (Quagliarella) then you can tell he is struggling to keep up. Both times he conned the Red pretending to be the one Fouled. It works in Italy but it won’t work against another Ref from another league where Chielo has no clout.
Mancio needs to be smart about this.
Also if Chiellini can’t play every week or twice a week, then how can he do it at the World Cup?
Unless Mancio rotates his CB pairings. Boh.
He needs to go on. But he might not play every game like games against turkey and easier teams and give young blokes a go but also he needs to be their and play in big games like against Belgium and France and good teams and against easier teams just have a break but still stay match fit. He needs to be there no doubt about it.
https://www.change.org/p/jayden-to-get-chiellni-and-bonucci-to-play-the-world-cup-next-year?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_30252035_en-AU%3A0&recruiter=1219728610&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=psf_combo_share_initial