Luciano Spalletti continued to test out his Italy squad in training and could have a few surprises in midfield against France.
The Nations League campaign kicks off on Friday at Parc des Princes, the stadium where Paris Saint-Germain play their club football.
It is therefore familiar territory for Gianluigi Donnarumma, but the rest of the squad is up in the air as Spalletti shifts to a three-man defence.
Although they trained behind closed doors today, there were still some reports emanating from the Coverciano camp on what they worked on.
It is reported that Alessandro Bastoni, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Riccardo Calafiori formed the defence, with Giacomo Raspadori the favourite to partner Mateo Retegui upfront.
As seen yesterday, Sandro Tonali is the favourite to be given his first start after 10 months out with a betting ban.
For the second day in a row, Torino midfielder Samuele Ricci was used in the middle of the park, so he seems to be leaning towards a starting slot.
Lorenzo Pellegrini and Davide Frattesi are the other alternatives, with the Inter player used today.
Moise Kean was working separately yesterday, but returned to full training today and partnered Mattia Zaccagni for the reserve team.
As the session wore on, Spalletti shook things up, as Federico Gatti swapped with Di Lorenzo, Nicolรฒ Fagioli replaced Ricci, Pellegrini took over from Frattesi and Alessandro Buongiorno from Calafiori.
Italy tests
Italy (3-5-2): Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori; Cambiaso, Frattesi, Ricci, Tonali, Dimarco; Raspadori, Retegui
Italy Reserves (3-5-2): Vicario; Gatti, Buongiorno, Okoli; Bellanova, Brescianini, Fagioli, Pellegrini, Udogie; Zaccagni, Kean
๐ ๐ด๐ง๐ง๐ข๐๐๐ in ๐บ๐๐๐-๐ด๐ ๐โก๏ธ#Nazionale ๐ฎ๐น #Azzurri #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/0QV9hBmRkk
โ Nazionale Italiana โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ (@Azzurri) September 4, 2024
Good luck they will need it in France!
Italy are really knee high in the brown stuff right now .
Spaletti has six nations league matches to put together a side that can qualify for the world cup.
He hasn’t got a clue We need a miracle!!