Roberto Mancini has announced his 31-man squad for Italy’s upcoming friendlies with Albania and Austria.
The Azzurri will face off against Albania on November 16 before travelling to Vienna to face Austria on November 20, giving the Italy squad the chance to get together despite their failure to qualify for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar. The Azzurri’s absence from the tournament has started to grow more painful with the tournament approaching, something Mancini and the players have admitted.
Juventus youngsters Nicolo Fagioli and Fabio Miretti have received the call following their strong starts to the season and Nicolo Zaniolo also returned to the squad. 16-year-old Udinese talent Simone Pafundi will also join the senior team for the first time.
Mancini is now working on overhauling the Italy squad, bringing in the new generation of players ahead of the Azzurri’s next major tournament, likely to be Euro 2024 in Germany.
Below is the full 31-man Italy squad called up by Mancini
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio), Guglielmo Vicario (Empoli);
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Inter), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Emerson Palmieri (West Ham), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Pasquale Mazzocchi (Salernitana), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus), Davide Frattesi (Sassuolo), Fabio Miretti (Juventus), Matteo Pessina (Monza), Samuele Ricci (Torino), Sandro Tonali (Milan), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain);
Forwards: Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds), Vincenzo Grifo (Freiburg), Simone Pafundi (Udinese), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Gianluca Scamacca (West Ham), Nicolò Zaniolo (Roma).