Roberto Mancini confirmed that Italy will look to call-up more Argentine-born players, which reportedly include Gianluca Prestianni and Nicolas Capaldo.
Mateo Retegui was a surprise inclusion in Mancini’s Azzurri squad for their first two Euro 2024 qualifiers and the gamble paid off, with the 23-year-old Argentine-born striker scoring against both England and Malta.
Oriundi are people who were born and raised abroad but have Italian ancestry. An example of this in Italy’s history is Mauro Camoranesi, who helped win the World Cup in 2006.
La Gazzetta dello Sport details how Azzurri scouts have already identified four more Oriundi who could be useful to the Italian national team.
These four are 17-year-old winger Gianluca Prestianni, 24-year-old midfielder Nicolas Capaldo, 23-year-old midfielder Giuliano Galoppo and 21-year-old defender Marco Di Cesare. All four could be called up by Mancini for the next international break as he looks to rejuvenate the squad ahead of Euro 2024.
Mancini explained why he was planning to call up more Oriundi, noting how other nations have been doing something similar for a while now.
“Until a few years ago, we had many strong players and didn’t need to do it. The others did, often taking players that we had helped to develop and mature, so now we will adapt and do the same.”
Interesting! Prestianni looks a fantastic prospect, similar drive and dribbling to Chiesa, and we need more options like that up front. Given Italy have 7 or 8 perfectly good young midfielders vying for places in our starting 11, I’m not sure there’s much point in adding Capaldo and Galoppo to the mix. Maybe Mancini wants to play 3-6-1?!
Bruno Zapelli is the man and is playing for Italy Under 21. He needs to call him up