Roberto Mancini’s first Italy squad back in the Azzurri dugout does not tiptoe into the new cycle. It walks straight through the front door, drops a few surprises on the table and dares everyone to argue.
The Nations League schedule is unforgiving: Belgium on September 25, Turkiye on September 28, France on October 2, a second clash with Turkiye on October 5, then the group wrapped up with France on November 12 and Belgium on November 15. Six games, little room for experiments. Mancini has gone for them anyway.
Maldini called amid controversy
The headline name is Daniel Maldini. Not for his football alone, but for everything swirling around him.
There were genuine doubts he would be called after his recent car incident, in which his licence was suspended for testing narrowly over the alcohol limit. The noise grew louder when reports surfaced that he had failed a drugs test as well. Those stories were later shown to be inaccurate, with all toxicology tests returning negative, but the damage to his image lingered.
Mancini has cut through the off-field storm. Maldini is in. Cagliari have already nailed their colours to the mast, insisting he will start their next Serie A match this weekend, and now the Azzurri have followed that line. It is a clear message: the incident is serious, but his international future is not being written off.
Palestra left watching from London
On the other side of the ledger sits Marco Palestra. The Chelsea man had been widely tipped to miss out, and so it proves.
An untimely pre-season injury has delayed his competitive debut for the Premier League club, and with no meaningful minutes in his legs, Mancini has decided against a gamble. For a player many see as a long-term piece of Italy’s future, this is a pause, not a verdict, but in a squad full of bold calls his absence still stands out.
Old faces, new chapter
If Maldini’s inclusion grabs the headlines, the spine of this squad is defined by returns.
Nicolò Fagioli and Nicolò Zaniolo are back in an Italy list for the first time since October 2024. Both have lived the full emotional swing of international football under Mancini: early faith, setbacks, and now another chance.
Fagioli, now at Fiorentina, owns seven senior caps. He has never been a volume player for the national team, more a technical option Mancini has dipped into when looking for control and craft. His recall hints at a desire to reintroduce that profile in midfield.
Zaniolo’s story with the Azzurri is more dramatic. Mancini famously handed him his first call-up before he had even played a single Serie A match, a gesture that underlined just how highly the coach rated his talent. Nineteen caps later, his last appearance came in March 2024 in a friendly against Ecuador, while his most recent competitive outing dates back to November 2023 against Ukraine. Bringing him back now feels like another roll of the dice on a player who has so often been seen as a potential game-breaker for Italy.
Mandragora, five years later
Then there is Rolando Mandragora, the most striking comeback of all.
The new Torino midfielder returns to the Italy squad for the first time since March 2021, a gap of over five years between call-ups. His international career to date consists of a single senior cap, earned in June 2018 in a 3-1 friendly defeat to France. For many, that night looked like a footnote. Mancini has decided it might yet be a prologue.
At 29, Mandragora is no longer a prospect. He is a seasoned midfielder with scars and experience, and his recall suggests Mancini wants a different kind of presence in the middle of the pitch, someone who can knit play but also absorb pressure in what will be a demanding Nations League group.
Nine new faces and a clear message
In total, Mancini has called nine new faces, a statement that this is not a gentle tune-up but a reset. Around them, the recalls of Fagioli, Zaniolo and Mandragora, and the selection of Maldini, give this squad an edge. It is not safe. It is not conservative.
The Nations League will show quickly whether this blend of redemption arcs and fresh blood can carry Italy through a brutal run of fixtures. Mancini has made his choices. Now the games will decide who belongs in this new Azzurri era and who gets left behind.
