May 23, (THEWILL)- Veteran striker Ciro Immobile and midfield stalwarts Manuel Locatelli and Marco Verratti headline the big names omitted from Italy’s 30-man provisional squad for Euro 2024. Coach Luciano Spalletti announced his initial selection on Thursday, which will be trimmed to 26 players after friendlies against Turkey and Bosnia in early June. Â
Only 10 players who started Italy’s Euro 2020 final victory over England in 2021 made the cut this time around. Immobile scored just 7 Serie A goals this season for Lazio, while Verratti’s move to Qatari club Al-Arabi appeared to count against him. Locatelli has fallen out of favour since the last Euros despite solid form for Juventus.
However, Juve teammate Nicolo Fagioli earned a surprise call-up after serving a 7-month ban for violating Italian gambling laws. Other young prospects like Roma’s Riccardo Orsolini and Genoa striker Mateo Retegui could make their major tournament debuts in Germany this June.Â
The Azzurri open their Euro 2024 campaign against Albania on June 15 before facing Spain and Croatia in a difficult Group B. Having won Euro 2020 in dramatic fashion, Italy will be aiming to replicate Spain’s achievement of back-to-back European titles in 2008 and 2012 – a feat no other nation has managed since.
The full squad list includes:
GOALKEEPERS
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain)
Alex Meret (Napoli)
Ivan Provedel (Lazio)
Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham)
DEFENDERS
Francesco Acerbi (Inter)
Alessandro Bastoni (Inter)
Raoul Bellanova (Torino)
Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino)
Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna)
Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus)
Matteo Darmian (Inter)
Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli)
Federico Dimarco (Inter)
Gianluca Mancini (Roma)
Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta)
MIDFIELDERS
Nicolò Barella (Inter)
Bryan Cristante (Roma)
Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus)
Michael Folorunsho (Verona)
Davide Frattesi (Inter)
Jorginho (Arsenal)
Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma)
Samuele Ricci (Torino)
FORWARDS
Federico Chiesa (Juventus)
Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma)
Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna)
Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli)
Mateo Retegui (Genoa)
Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta)
Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio)
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
