Three Italy internationals who were not part of Luciano Spalletti’s squad for the wins over Israel and France over the last week are expected to return to the Azzurri squad for Nations League matches against Belgium and Israel again in October.
Three Italy players expected to return in October
Inter midfielder Nicolo Barella was not called up this time around due to a pre-arranged operation on his nose, which has since been successfully completed. He is effectively a guaranteed starter for Italy in big matches, so he will return to the group assuming he is fit next month.
Spalletti also confirmed that he wanted to bring Federico Chiesa with him for this month’s round of internationals, but couldn’t due to his personalised training programme with his new club Liverpool. TMW confirm that he will also return in October if he is available.
Juventus midfielder Manuel Locatelli has enjoyed an unbeaten start to the season at club level and has started in all three of Thiago Motta’s first Serie A matches in charge of the club. He, too, could return, likely in place of his club teammate Nicolo Fagioli.
Spalletti has hinted that he prefers to work with a smaller group where possible, and is expected to stick to a squad of 23 players.
That means that a handful of the current crop could be left out next time to make way for the three experienced internationals, who have 136 Italy caps between them.
My friend Vieri#9 on Big Soccer Italian National Team forums said that he agrees with me that Frattesi is not a striker, but a hard working midfielder who gets into opportune positions but is an excellent finisher. If things stand as they are, I will make another bold statement. That statement is that Chiesa needs to earn his place back by producing. So I think Federico has to come off the bench and prove himself again. No free ride for him. That might be an unpopular opinion now but it will certainly grow on people as the games continue to unfold. First start with Liverpool. Your skills set Federico is perfectly suited to the more open and speedy EPL. Let’s start with some big goals there first.
Chiesa doesn’t deserve to be called up for the way he played the Euros, every player has to earn his place in the squad, let’s wait and see how he performs next few weeks in Liverpool shirt.