Italy manager Spalletti explains why he left out Juventus star | OneFootball

Italy boss Luciano Spalletti revealed the main reason that prompted him to leave out Juventus defender Federico Gatti.

The Azzurri are currently leading the charts in their UEFA Nations League group. They will host Belgium at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Thursday, and the Israel four days later in Udines.

Spalletti called up three Juventus stars in the shape of Nicolo Fagioli, Andrea Cambiaso and Michele Di Gregorio, while Manuel Locatelli was left out once more.

Nevertheless, the most interesting exclusion was Gatti’s, as the 26-year-old had often been in the manager’s squad as of late, and has been delivering fine displays for the Bianconeri, contributing to six Serie A clean sheets in a row.

But as Spalletti explains, the former Frosinone defender hasn’t been in his optimal physical condition as of late.

“Gatti had a physical problem to fix,” explained the former Roma, Inter and Napoli manager during his press conference at Coverciano via JuventusNews24.

“He was working on recovering his condition, whereas we want to field healthy players.”

Juventus coach Thiago Motta was planning to rest Gatti during the Champions League encounter against RB Leipzig last week, but was forced to thrust him after six minutes following Gleison Bremer’s devastating ACL injury.

The Italian was also on the pitch for the entire contest against Cagliari yesterday.