Roberto Mancini's Bold Italy Squad Selection
Roberto Mancini’s first Italy squad has landed with a jolt rather than a gentle reset.
Daniel Maldini is in, despite the storm still swirling around him. Rolando Mandragora is back after five years in the international wilderness. Marco Palestra, the Chelsea prospect many expected to see, is nowhere to be found.
For a first list, Mancini has chosen noise over neutrality.
Four games, one statement to make
Italy’s Nations League schedule is relentless. The Azzurri face Belgium on September 25, Turkiye on September 28, France on October 2 and then Turkiye again on October 5. The group then closes out with France on November 12 and Belgium on November 15.
It is not a gentle bedding-in period. It is a stress test.
Mancini has called up nine new faces, but it’s the familiar names and the contentious ones that jump off the page.
Maldini in the spotlight
The biggest talking point is Maldini.
His inclusion comes on the back of a car accident that led to his driving licence being suspended after he tested narrowly over the alcohol limit. Early reports suggested he had also failed a drugs test, but those claims were later proven false, with all toxicology tests returning negative.
Cagliari have not flinched. The club is backing him and insists he will start their next Serie A match this weekend. Mancini has followed that line, deciding that form and potential outweigh the off-field noise, at least for now.
Palestra left waiting
On the other side of the debate sits Palestra.
The Chelsea man had been tipped to miss out, and so it proved. An injury in pre-season has delayed his competitive debut for the Premier League club, and without minutes, the door has stayed shut.
The decision underlines a clear message: reputation alone will not carry anyone into this Italy squad.
Old faces, new chapter
There is a sense of unfinished business with some of the returns.
Nicolò Fagioli and Nicolò Zaniolo are both back after being left out since October 2024. For Fiorentina’s Fagioli, it is a chance to add to his seven senior caps and re-establish himself as a midfield option under a new regime.
Zaniolo’s story with the national team has always carried a dramatic edge. Mancini was the coach who first called him up before he had even made a single Serie A appearance. Now he returns with 19 caps to his name, the latest coming in a friendly against Ecuador in March 2024. His last competitive outing for Italy dates back to November 2023 against Ukraine.
This recall feels like a door reopening on a career that has never quite followed a straight line.
Mandragora’s long road back
Then there is Mandragora, perhaps the most striking name on the list.
The new Torino midfielder has not featured for Italy since March 2021, a gap of more than five years between call-ups. His only senior cap came even earlier, in June 2018, during a 3-1 friendly defeat to France.
To go from a single appearance in a lost friendly to a recall under a new era, at 29, is a reminder that Mancini is prepared to dig deeper than the usual rotation of names.
This is not a cosmetic nod to experience. It is a bet that Mandragora’s club form and maturity can translate onto the international stage at the second attempt.
A squad with edges
Mancini’s first Italy list is not a safe, diplomatic selection. It carries risk, narrative and tension.
A forward under scrutiny off the pitch. A Chelsea talent left to wait his turn. Two gifted but disrupted careers in Fagioli and Zaniolo back in the fold. A midfielder dragged back from the edge of the national picture after half a decade away.
The Nations League will show whether this mix of rehabilitation, reward and hard choices can spark a new Azzurri cycle or simply light more fires for Mancini to put out.
