Italy's pre-selection for the 2024 European Championship has been announced. National coach Luciano Spalletti has called up thirty players, which means that four more players will be dropped.

Spalletti has chosen to select four goalkeepers with Gianluigi Donnarumma, Alex Meret, Guglielmo Vicario and Ivan Provedel. Presumably Spalletti will leave one of these goalkeepers at home.

Spalletti has selected no fewer than eleven defenders. Inter is the absolute supplier with four representatives in the back line. Federico Dimarco, Alessandro Bastoni, Matteo Darmian and Francesco Acerbi have received a call-up.

It is also noticeable that Torino is sending three players. The club from Turin is having a fairly strong season and that has not gone unnoticed by Spalletti. Raoul Bellanova, Alessandro Buongiorno and Samuele Ricci can hope for European Championship participation.

The most notable names may be those of Nicolò Fagioli and Michael Folorunsho. The latter, a versatile 26-year-old midfielder from Hellas Verona, has never played an international match for Italy.

Fagioli only returned to the field three days ago, after a months-long suspension for violating gambling rules. The midfielder played for twenty minutes against Bologna on Monday. Before that, he last played on October 1 last year.

Juventus' Manuel Locatelli is one of the notable absentees. Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds United) can also book his holiday. Italy will compete successively against Albania, Spain and Croatia at the European Championship.

Full pre-selection Italy

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

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

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella, Davide Frattesi (both Inter), Michael Folorunsho (Hellas Verona), Jorginho (Arsenal), Lorenzo Pellegrini, Bryan Cristante (both AS Roma), Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus), Samuele Ricci (Torino).

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

Want to always stay informed of the most important football news? Join the Voetbalzone WhatsApp channel now!

More sports news