Upheaval is initiated
©IMAGO
After missing the World Cup, a change was announced by the Italian association and this is reflected in the first nomination of interim coach Silvio Baldini. The 67-year-old did without the big names and most valuable players in his squad and called up a total of 19 debutants for the friendly games against Luxembourg (June 3) and Greece (June 7).
Only captain Gianluigi Donnarumma (Man City), defenders Pietro Comuzzo (AC Fiorentina) Marco Palestra (Cagliari), midfielder Niccolò Pisilli (AS Roma) and striker Pio Esposito (Inter) were previously in the squad for the national team, which this time has an average age of 21 years. New players include three players from Borussia Dortmund. Attacker Samuele Inácio (18), who was a regular at BVB in the Bundesliga final spurt, can also hope for his debut, as can his teammates and central defenders Luca Reggiani (18) and Filippo Mane (21) as well as Fabio Chiarodia (20) from Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Baldini has been the coach of the Italian U21 national team since July 2025 and will only take charge of the senior national team for the two friendly matches that were actually supposed to serve as preparation for the World Cup. As a result, the squad is likely to have little significance for the future. Sandro Tonali (26; Newcastle), Riccardo Calafiori (24; Arsenal), Alessandro Bastoni (27), Nicolò Barella (29) and Federico Dimarco (28; all Inter), all of whom have a market value of over 50 million euros, are not included.
