Italy CT Roberto Mancini admits Marco Verratti is not fit to join the Azzurri and believes Gianluca Scamacca ‘needs time’ to settle in at West Ham and in the Premier League.

Italy are preparing for their next two Nations League games against England and Hungary. Marco Verratti sustained an injury with PSG last night, so he will be withdrawn from the squad and will likely be replaced by Sassuolo midfielder Davide Frattesi.

“Verratti is not available, he picked up a knock. Probably I’ll call Frattesi [to replace him]. I don’t think it’s a big problem for Tonali, while Politano feels quite well,” Mancini said at a press conference.

The Napoli winger was subbed off after scoring from the spot against Milan last night, but Marco Domenichini (Luciano Spalletti’s assistant) also confirmed that he should be fit to join the Azzurri at Coverciano.

Italy face England at San Siro this coming Friday and will visit Marco Rossi’s Hungary on Monday, September 26.

“Results will be important. Anything can still happen in the group. We must try to win both games and win the group. I’ve called experienced and young players,” said the CT.

“Leonardo Spinazzola called me to say that he doesn’t feel too well, he needs to train for two weeks, so I didn’t call him up. I’ve left many good players at home, but it was the right thing to do because they are playing many matches.

Eight strikers feature in the squad, including Ciro Immobile, Scamacca and Giacomo Raspadori, but Mancini reckons he has little options up front as most top Serie A clubs have foreign centre forwards.

“Top teams have had foreign strikers for some time now,” he said.

“The only Italian up there is Immobile. Hopefully, we’ll soon see two or three strikers who can be the national team’s future. It’s not a small problem.

“We’ll play against a strong team physically [England]. Scamacca joined a difficult league and it will take some time to understand English football. He will take four or five months to settle in, but time is by his side.”

The 23-year-old joined the Hammers from West Ham in the summer and has scored three goals in eight appearances across all competitions so far.

Italy ended June’s cycle of Nations League games with a 5-2 loss against Germany.

“It’s never pleasant to lose 5-2, but even in that game, I saw positive things,” Mancini claimed.

“Sometimes you need these kinds of games to improve. It was the fifth consecutive game at the end of the season. Young players have earned experience and we’ve done well so far, earning five points.”

3 thought on “Mancini: ‘Frattesi to replace Verratti, Scamacca needs time at West Ham’”
  1. Make sure you don’t play Ciro at all, we need him rested. Plus, don’t give any excuse to clueless ”fans” talk nonsense about the best serie a striker.

  2. Scamacca is playing in a team fighting relegation. That’s what happens when you prefer money to taking a step up.

  3. Frattesi likely only to be callled because Zaniolo isn’t. Not sure these 2 can ever be compatible on the same team (non-football reasons).

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