Euro 2024: Italy’s expanded list without Verratti or Immobile but with Donnarumma

Marco Verratti will not have the same fate as N’Golo Kanté. Italian coach Luciano Spalletti did not imitate his French counterpart Didier Deschamps by recalling for Euro 2024 (June 14-July 14) the former PSG player, exiled like Kanté in the Middle East. Verratti (55 caps, 3 goals) was not included in the list of 30 pre-selected players published Thursday by the Nazionale to defend his title in Germany.

Recruited in September by the Qatari club Al-Arabi, he was never called up by the Italian coach who succeeded Roberto Mancini last summer. Another important player during the 2021 European coronation, Ciro Immobile is also not in Spalletti’s prelist which will be reduced to 26 names on June 6.

The Lazio striker (57 caps, 17 goals) is caught up by his age (34 years) and a checkered 2023-24 season (7 goals in the league) during which he lost his status as an indisputable starter at the club . In attack, the recurring weak point of the Nazionale, Spalletti called up seven players including Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Mateo Retegui (Genoa) and Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta).

With Scamacca and Fagioli

Scamacca, who won the Europa League with Atalanta on Wednesday, approaches this Euro with confidence with nine goals, in all competitions, in less than two months. The Italian coach also summoned Juventus Turin midfielder Nicolo Fagioli, whose long suspension for having made sports bets on clandestine platforms has just ended. PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is obviously there.

Italy will face Albania, Spain and Croatia in Group G of the Euro-2024 group stage. The Nazionale will be in training from June 3 at the Coverciano national training center, near Florence, and will play two final preparation matches against Turkey on June 4 and Bosnia five days later.

The list of 30:

Gardiens: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham)

Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Inter Milan), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter Milan), Raoul Bellanova (Turin), Alessandro Buongiorno (Turin), Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Inter Milan), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter Milan), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta)

Milieux: Nicolò Barella (Inter Milan), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Nicolo Fagioli (Juventus), Michael Folorunsho (Verona), Davide Frattesi (Inter Milan), Jorginho (Arsenal), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Samuele Ricci (Turin)

Attaquants: Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Genoa), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio)