West Ham legend against Fagioli’s call-up: “The national team isn’t a recovery center”

Former Italian striker Paolo Di Canio criticizes Italy coach Luciano Spalletti for calling up Nicolo Fagioli to his preliminary Euro 2024 squad.

The Azzurri manager raised some eyebrows when announcing the 30-man squad last week.

For instance, he decided to drop Juventus stalwart Manuel Locatelli, and on the contrary, invited Fagioli to join his camp.

The 23-year-old endured a complex campaign after being slapped with an eight-month suspension due to illegal betting.

Nevertheless, the young midfielder made his return in the final matches of the season. He entered as a second-half substitute against Bologna and helpled his teammates complete a sensational comeback from 0-3 to 3-3.

Fagioli then started the final fixture of the season against Monza, and was one of the best players on the pitch, if not the very best.

Yet, Di Canio still can’t see the logic behind Spalletti’s call-up.

“For me, it’s a technical question. He was out for 8 months and it’s not like the national team should be a recovery centre,” said the West Ham legend in his interview with Il Corriere della Sera via JuventusNews24.

“It seems difficult to me to understand why Spalletti would take him to Germany.”

The national team coach still has to trim his squad from 30 men to 26. So it remains to be seen if the returning midfielder would make the cut.

Juventus have another two representatives in the shape of Federico Chiesa and Andrea Cambiaso.