Italy: Who could start in defence against Turkey after Scalvini and Acerbi withdrawals | OneFootball

Luciano Spalletti is expected to stick with a back three when the Azzurri host Turkey at the Dall’Ara in preparation for Euro 2024, but the recent withdrawals of Atalanta’s Giorgio Scalvini and Inter veteran Francesco Acerbi means that there is still a decision to be made over personnel.

Spalletti included Scalvini and Acerbi in his provisional 30-man Italy squad towards the end of May, but the former has since ruptured his cruciate ligament, while the latter has undergone surgery as of today to fix a hernia issue that had hampered him at the end of the 2023-24 season.

Juventus defender Federico Gatti has since been called into the provisional squad as a replacement.

Who could start in defence for Italy against Turkey?

According to reports on Monday evening, two of the three defenders set to start for Italy against Turkey will be from the Scudetto-winning Inter squad. Calciomercato suggest that it could have been three out of three until it became apparent Acerbi needed an operation.

That means that Matteo Darmian and Alessandro Bastoni are in line to play from the first minute, and they could be joined by sought-after Torino centre-back Alessandro Buongiorno.

Calciomercato suggest that Spalletti is preparing two sets of a three-man defence, with Gatti, Gianluca Mancini and Riccardo Calafiori ready and waiting in the wings.