Roberto Mancini's Bold Italy Squad Selection
Roberto Mancini’s first Italy squad has arrived with a jolt rather than a gentle reset.
Daniel Maldini is in, despite the cloud of a recent incident off the pitch. Rolando Mandragora is back after five years in the international wilderness. Chelsea’s Marco Palestra, heavily talked up in recent months, has been left out altogether.
This is not a quiet start to a new era.
A demanding Nations League run
Mancini’s Azzurri face a packed Nations League schedule over the coming weeks. They open against Belgium on September 25, then meet Turkiye on September 28. France await on October 2, before a second clash with the Turks on October 5.
The group then closes with two more heavyweight fixtures: France again on November 12 and a trip to Belgium on November 15. It is a sequence that leaves little room for experimentation, yet Mancini has still chosen to shake things up.
Nine new faces have been called. Around them, several big selection calls stand out.
Maldini in, Palestra out
The decision to omit Palestra had been widely anticipated. The Chelsea player is still waiting for his competitive debut with the club after picking up an injury in pre-season, and his lack of minutes has cost him.
Maldini’s inclusion was far less certain.
The forward has been under scrutiny following a car accident in which his driving licence was suspended after he tested narrowly over the alcohol limit. Reports then emerged suggesting he had also failed a drugs test, but those claims were later shown to be false, with all toxicology tests returning negative.
On the pitch, Cagliari have chosen to back him and intend to start him in their next Serie A match this weekend. Mancini has now followed suit, signalling that, for the national team, Maldini’s footballing value still outweighs the noise around him.
Returns for Fagioli, Zaniolo… and Mandragora
This squad is not just about new blood. It is also about second chances.
Nicolò Fagioli and Nicolò Zaniolo both return after being left out since October 2024. Fagioli, now at Fiorentina, has seven senior caps and remains a midfielder with the kind of technical profile Mancini has often trusted.
Zaniolo’s relationship with the Azzurri is already a story in itself. Mancini first called him up before he had even made a single Serie A appearance, a bold move that underlined the coach’s faith in his talent. The attacker now sits on 19 caps, the last of which came in a friendly against Ecuador in March 2024. His most recent competitive appearance dates back to November 2023 against Ukraine.
Then comes perhaps the most striking recall of all.
Rolando Mandragora, now with Torino, returns to the Italy setup for the first time since March 2021. The gap is enormous: more than five years between call-ups. The 29-year-old’s only senior cap so far arrived in June 2018, in a 3-1 friendly defeat to France. Since then, his career has wound through injuries, transfers and rebuilding phases. Now he stands back on the threshold of the national team.
For Mancini, these are not just names on a list. They are calculated risks, statements of trust and, in some cases, final auditions.
The Nations League will reveal soon enough who turns those chances into something more permanent.
