Luciano Spalletti is set to announce his Italy squad for the upcoming European Championship, so which players are expected to be cut from the list?
The guidelines for the tournament state that only 26 players can be included in the squad, forcing the coach and his staff to decide which three to cut from the 29-man preliminary squad. The decision is set to be confirmed at Coverciano on Thursday evening.
In the meantime, Italy are gearing up for the European Championship with two friendlies. They drew Turkey 0-0 on Tuesday evening and will face Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday night before jetting off to Germany, where they’ll face Spain, Croatia and Albania in Group B.
Which Italy players will be cut?
Calciomercato.com and TMW both suggest that three roles in the Italy squad will see cuts – a goalkeeper, a midfielder and a wide forward or winger. Changes can still be made until June 14th.
Starting at the back, there are two certainties heading into Euro 2024, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Guglielmo Vicario. This leaves one spot open for either Alex Meret or Ivan Provedel, with much depending on the fitness of the former. Should the Napoli man be given the okay, he’d likely be included, leaving no space for the Lazio shot stopper.
In the midfield, there are seemingly two candidates likely to be left at home, either Samuele Ricci or Nicolo Fagioli. Both did well in the in-house friendly against the Under-20 squad and against Turkey, and it’s an open race to see which will be left out of the Italy squad for the European Championship.
Finally, there’s the frontline, where a winger is expected to be left out of the Italy set-up, with the two in doubt being Mattia Zaccagni and Riccardo Orsolini. The decision essentially comes down to if Spalletti wants to bring a left-footed right winger or a right-footed left winger.