Roberto Mancini is back in charge of Italy, and he may be about to make his first bold statement with a name few Azzurri fans expected to hear: Mohamed Ali Zoma.
The 22-year-old 1. FC Nürnberg winger, born in Merate and raised in the shadows of Italy’s lower leagues, is suddenly at the centre of a tug of war that stretches from Serie C to the Nations League – and from Coverciano to West Africa.
Mancini’s reset – and a long audition
Italy’s upcoming international break is no ordinary pause in the calendar. Four Nations League fixtures – Belgium, Turkiye, France, then Turkiye again – will be squeezed into an extended two‑week window. For Mancini, recalled to the bench after Gennaro Gattuso’s brief and bruising spell as CT, it is less a gentle reintroduction and more a live-fire reset.
He inherits a national side still reeling from a catastrophic 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign. No ticket to the United States. No redemption after Qatar. Just a year of regret and recrimination.
That kind of failure usually has consequences. This time, it is expected to reshape the squad itself.
Mancini is widely tipped to shake up his group, to phase out underperforming regulars and to fast‑track a cluster of dual-national talents before other federations move in. The message is clear: if Italy will not lead the race for these players, someone else will.
Which is where Zoma comes in.
From AlbinoLeffe to a €20m problem
Zoma’s route to this moment has been anything but glamorous. He came through at AlbinoLeffe, plying his trade in Serie C, far from the spotlight that usually illuminates future internationals. No hype machine, no wonderkid label. Just steady growth and a winger who kept hurting defences often enough that someone, somewhere, had to notice.
Nürnberg did. Last summer, the 2. Bundesliga club moved decisively, paying €1.5m to take him to Germany. It already looks like one of the bargains of the window.
Zoma exploded in his debut season: 14 goals and five assists in 29 league appearances, 19 direct goal involvements for a wide man still learning the league, the language, the rhythm of a new country. This season he has started even faster – five goals in his first five 2. Bundesliga games of 2026-27.
Those numbers travel quickly. So did the interest.
According to Sky Sport DE’s Florian Plettenberg, several clubs circled late in the summer window, sensing an opportunity before his value truly spiked. Nürnberg refused to play along. The German club dug in, reportedly slapping a €20m valuation on the Italian-born winger and making it clear they were not ready to cash in.
They might soon have another bargaining chip: an Italy cap.
Italy, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast – and a decision looming
Zoma’s story is not just about form. It is about flags.
Born and raised in Merate, he is fully eligible for Italy, but his parents’ roots also allow him to represent Burkina Faso or the Ivory Coast. For years, that question sat in the background while he tried to climb out of Serie C. Now it is front and centre.
Italy cannot afford to be passive here. Lose a player with his profile and production to another national team and the criticism would be immediate, and loud.
Mancini appears to understand the stakes. Zoma has already confirmed that the two have spoken about a potential call-up.
“It’s true, Roberto Mancini and I have spoken. He said that he is keeping an eye on me and that I should keep going like this, and then we’ll see,” the Nürnberg winger told Sky.
For a 22-year-old who spent his formative years far from the glamour of Serie A, that is a seismic sentence. Mancini is watching. Keep going.
He has kept going.
A call-up closing in
Italian outlets are now treating his inclusion as a matter of timing rather than fantasy. Tuttosport describes an Italy call-up as “increasingly close” for the winger, while TMW goes a step further and predicts he will be in the next Azzurri squad.
The timing would make sense. Mancini’s first camp back in charge, an unusually long international break, four high-level Nations League tests, and a mandate to refresh a side scarred by failure. It is the perfect laboratory for a coach who wants to send a message that reputations no longer guarantee a seat on the plane.
Zoma offers pace, goals, and a profile Italy have too often lacked in recent years: a wide forward who runs at defenders, finishes moves, and arrives in the box with conviction rather than hesitation. He also offers something else that managers quietly value – hunger.
From AlbinoLeffe to Nürnberg, from Serie C to a potential debut against Belgium or France, his rise has been steep, not smooth. Players who climb that way tend not to waste opportunities.
For Mancini, the equation is simple. Call him now, and Italy gain a dangerous attacking option and secure his international future. Wait too long, and the Azzurri may watch another late-blooming talent wear different colours on the biggest stage.
The squad announcement will reveal the answer soon enough.
