Why Gatti has not been added to Italy squad for EURO 2024 yet

Italy have only told Juventus defender Federico Gatti to be on stand-by after Francesco Acerbi’s injury, so he might not be joining the squad preparing for EURO 2024 at all.

The group will come together at the Coverciano training ground near Florence on Friday May 31 to begin preparations for the European Championship in Germany.

Coach Luciano Spalletti had named a 30-man preliminary long list, but Inter defender Acerbi had to pull out today with a recurring groin injury that will require surgery.

Gatti only on call

Rather than officially call up Juventus defender Gatti to replace him, Spalletti has instead put the player on stand-by and told him to continue training with his club staff in Turin.

This is because Italy need to cut down the squad to 26 players on June 6 for the competition, which runs from June 14 to July 14.

With Acerbi pulling out, it is entirely possible that no further players are needed to fill in for the Inter veteran.

After all, Spalletti is going to be training with 10 defenders, five of them centre-backs, plus Matteo Darmian and Giovanni Di Lorenzo who can when needed play in a three-man defence.

Gatti will probably not even be called over to Coverciano, let alone made part of the side going to Germany.

Italy squad for EURO 2024

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham);

Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Raoul Bellanova (Torino), Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta);

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus), Michael Folorunsho (Hellas Verona), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Jorginho (Arsenal), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Samuele Ricci (Torino);

Forwards: Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Genoa), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio).