Here are the takeaways from Roberto Mancini’s first press conference ahead of Thursday’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against England.
Football Italia is among the accredited media at Coveriano where Mancini’s Italy begin their preparation for the first two Euro 2024 qualifying fixtures against England and Malta.
Mancini complained about his lack of options in attack and said Chiesa is unlikely to be available for the next two games after suffering a new injury in Juventus‘ 1-0 win over Inter on Sunday. The winger has remained in Turin to undergo examinations, while Inter’s Federico Dimarco is in Florence and is being monitored by Italy’s doctors.
The Azzurri CT believes Italian football “isn’t reborn” just because Inter, Milan and Napoli have qualified for the Champions League quarter-finals. He said that they don’t have many Italian players in their teams, so this means he still has to work hard to find new options for the Azzurri.
One of them is Argentine-born striker Mateo Retegui. Mancini confirmed he’s been following the 23-year-old for a long time. Retegui surprised Mancini by accepting to play for Italy, so he was immediately included in the squad.
Mancio warned Nicolò Zaniolo and Moise Kean that “time passes quickly” and admitted he hoped Serie A clubs would sign Wilfried Gnonto who is now getting regular playing time at Leeds United in the Premier League.
Click here to read Mancini’s full press conference, below his most important quotes from Coverciano.
ITALIAN FOOTBALL
“Italian football isn’t reborn because of that [three clubs in UCL QF]. Maybe of clubs. If there were 33 Italians on the pitch, maybe, even 50% would be enough.
“If you see the three teams left in UCL, they have seven or eight Italians combined. I don’t think it’s so much. We can’t complain about it. This is the reality and we must do something different. In some Primavera games, there aren’t Italian players at all.”
Chiesa
“Chiesa is in Turin for an exam, but I don’t think [he will be available]. Dimarco is here and is undergoing examination, we’ll see. We don’t have many players. I think the first Italian striker is Ciro [Immobile].”
Retegui
“We’ve been following here for a long time. We didn’t think he would agree. But he immediately accepted. He can really improve. Hopefully, he can be important.”
Zaniolo and Kean
“Zaniolo was not called up because he is still not fully fit. He knows it’s just a matter of time if he keeps improving. The same goes for Kean. We hope he can improve. They are young so they can do it at any moment. However, time passes quickly. So we hope they can understand they have great qualities and we need them.”
First match without Gianluca Vialli
“It’s the first time without Luca, it will be important to remember him. It will be like he is with us. It won’t be easy. We spoke before about it with the lads. We want to do well for him and remember what he left for us.”
England
“It has become a classic game, like Italy-Germany in the past. England are a strong team with class and technique, we expect a though game. They have more options than us. We want to play a great game, play well and begin well the Euro qualifiers, but they are strong.”