Born in Naples on 03/10/88, graduated in Philosophy and Politics from the Oriental University of Naples. He has been working for TMW since 2008 and was deputy editor for 10 years. Sent to follow the national team
From Marco Bresciani to Niccolò Pisilli. From Matteo Gabbia to Caleb Okoli. Luciano Spalletti’s new national team, which this autumn reached the quarter-finals of the Nations League but lost first place in the very tough A2 group at the last corner, is a team that has embarked on a completely new path after the disastrous European Championship. Experimental. Made up of many young people and choices resulting from the most immediate meritocracy. At the beginning of October it was frankly unthinkable to see Savona and Comuzzo in the list of 23 and instead a month later Spalletti brought them with him. From one call-up to the next, our coach changed eight players, a third of the squad. And if it is true that the new hard core is well recognisable, that there is finally a precise idea of the game around which Italy can be built, it is equally true that alongside it the rotation is going fast.
“It’s the field that decides everything”Spalletti loves to repeat that after the European Championship he had to change to give Italy a new perspective and he changed. That’s how it changed. First he decided to cut many senators such as Mancini, Cristante, Jorginho, Darmian, El Shaarawy and Acerbi, then he left at home quite a few players who today do not adapt to the new tactical guise and finally, in the space of three months, brought thirty-three players to Coverciano. There are many, especially if you consider the fact that after the defeat in Berlin his first decision was to reduce the blue group to 23 players. A choice resulting from new management of the group. More participatory and engaging.
FROM SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER: THE 33 FOOTBALLERS CALLED UP BY SPALLETTI
Goalkeepers (4): Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham), Michele Di Gregorio (Juventus).
Defenders (13): Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Raoul Bellanova (Atalanta), Alessandro Buongiorno (Napoli), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Caleb Okoli (Leicester), Destiny Udogie (Tottenham), Matteo Gabbia (Milan), Pietro Comuzzo (Fiorentina), Nicolò Savona (Juventus).
Midfielders (10): Marco Brescianini (Atalanta), Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Samuele Ricci (Turin), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle), Niccolò Pisilli (Roma), Nicolò Rovella (Lazio), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Nicolò Barella (Inter).
Attackers (6): Moise Kean (Fiorentina), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio), Daniel Maldini (Monza), Lorenzo Lucca (Udinese).
BUT WHO ARE THE UNTOUCHABLES REALLY?
Of this large group of 33 players called to Coverciano between September and November, those who today are 2-3 steps ahead of the others, 100% at the center of the project, are less than half. In goal Donnarumma and his deputy Vicar are the certainties, while Meret has to deal with the rise of Di Gregorio. Four central defenders at the center of the new blue project: Di Lorenzo, Buongiorno, Bastoni and Calafiori. While for the others from time to time there will be a lot of sweating and elbowing. Dimarco and Cambiaso the two certainties on the external lanes, Udogie the only alternative always included in the group.
Midfield chapter. The return of Tonali it was fundamental for the blue restart, the inclusion of Ricci the best news since Berlin. Together with Barella and Frattesi they are the certainties of a midfield which then from time to time has proposed some interesting innovations.
Finally the attack: Retegui and Kean they earned credits and trust with goals, Raspadori despite playing little for Napoli he is considered an indispensable wildcard.
WHO CAN BE AMONG THE GREAT EXCLUDED
Having said previously about the senators who were cut and who, unless there are sensational twists, they will no longer be part of the blue group, we need to open a final parenthesis on those who are now on the fringes of the blue group, but perhaps in the future they will be able to find themselves wearing the Italy shirt. Just over a year ago Spalletti compared Jannik Sinner to Federico Chiesa, then in the last 13 months the careers of the two athletes have taken very different paths. The man who is still considered by many to be the best Italian footballer today has been dumped by Juventus and has no place in Liverpool: the consideration that the manager has for him is still very high, but now the facts are needed to see him back in blue. Politano and Orsolini, but also Zaccagniare the players most penalized by this change of formation: for now they are there, in a bain-marie, but if the coach decides on a new tactical evolution in the coming months, their names could become relevant again. Finally the injured: Giorgio Scalvini he will be part of the Azzurri group again as soon as he returns as a protagonist in Gasperini’s Atalanta, while Gianluca Scamacca (his return is scheduled for March) in 2025 he will have to fight to become Spalletti’s first choice in attack again. After the stormy European Championship the wind has changed.