Mancini trims Italy squad to 31 but keeps the door open for five debutants
Italy's coach drops three names from his first camp's 34-man list while calling up Alphadjo Cisse, Riccardo Cassano and Simone Lontani ahead of November's Nations League double-header.
Roberto Mancini has named 31 players for Italy's Nations League fixtures against France on November 12 and Belgium three days later, a squad three smaller than the 34 he picked for his first camp back in charge last month, according to Football Italia.
The headline additions are uncapped: Alphadjo Cisse, Simone Lontani, Riccardo Cassano, Mattia Liberali and Luca Koleosho all get their first senior call-ups, alongside the returning Honest Ahanor and Marco Palestra.
Why the squad shrank but the pool widened
Cutting the squad from 34 to 31 while still finding room for five new names is not a contradiction so much as a sign of where Mancini is in the process. The first camp back was about reacquainting himself with the group; this one is about narrowing it down while testing fringe options against two very different opponents inside four days.
France away from home at San Siro and Belgium on the road is a demanding sequence for a squad this size, and rotation across the two matches looks inevitable given the goalkeeping depth alone — Marco Carnesecchi, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Guglielmo Vicario all travel.
The defensive list is heavy on players comfortable in wide, advancing roles: Federico Dimarco, Michael Kayode, Marco Palestra and Ahanor himself all operate as attacking full-backs or wing-backs at club level. Picking four such profiles in one squad suggests Mancini wants control of the width on both flanks rather than naming a single specialist per side.
Two routes back and one settled core
Ahanor's inclusion is notable for what it is not: he already has two senior caps from friendlies under Silvio Baldini in June, but has never featured in a competitive fixture. Named in September without playing, he was sent back to the Under-21s to help them qualify for the upcoming European Championships. A competitive cap carries more weight than a friendly one in terms of a player's long-term tie to a federation, which makes this call-up a more significant marker of Mancini's intent than the earlier friendly appearances were.
Palestra's recall follows a different route. He missed the start of the season through injury and has only recently made his first Premier League appearances for Chelsea, so his return to the squad reads as Mancini monitoring a player regaining fitness rather than rewarding an extended run of form.
Away from the new faces, the spine of the squad is unchanged. Donnarumma, Alessandro Bastoni, Riccardo Calafiori, Dimarco, Nicolò Barella, Sandro Tonali and Pio Esposito are all included, giving Mancini a settled core in goal, central defence, midfield and attack to build fresh selections around.
The one enforced absence of note is Giovanni Di Lorenzo, left out after being substituted at half-time of Napoli's 2-0 defeat to Juventus. Football Italia reported no other major surprises among the players omitted, which points to this squad being built additively around the existing group rather than through wholesale change.
What the table says about the stakes
The timing matters. Italy sit second in their Nations League group on seven points from four matches, three behind leaders France and one ahead of third-placed Belgium, with Turkiye bottom on zero. Points accumulated across the group phase decide final standing, so both fixtures carry direct consequence rather than being dead rubbers to experiment freely in.
Facing the group leaders at San Siro before travelling to a Belgium side just a point behind gives Mancini little margin to treat either game as pure experimentation. The uncapped forwards and defenders in this squad are likely auditioning for minutes off the bench or in a rotated XI against Belgium rather than guaranteed starts against France.
Italy host France on November 12 before the trip to Belgium on November 15, with second place in the group — and the gap to both the leaders and the side directly behind them — still to be settled.