The Italy head coach has changed from Roberto Mancini to Luciano Spalletti, but what hasn’t altered is the disregard for AC Milan’s captain Davide Calabria.
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Calciomercato.com writes how Calabria has not just been a starter but also a pillar of the excellent recent years that Stefano Pioli’s side have had, but this is not being taken into consideration by the coaches who have followed one another on the Azzurri bench.
Ventura had him training with the team, but Calabria made his debut with Mancini as coach. From then on he only put together seven appearances with two coming in 2020, three in 2021 and two more in 2022.
The Italy squad will train at Milanello in a few days but the right-back will watch from the sidelines. Spalletti has chosen to focus on Giovanni Di Lorenzo and he even recalled Matteo Darmian, who looks like he has lost his starting spot at Inter.
Calabria has a contract until 2025 with Milan and – even if the club has shown that with the right offer all players can leave, as Sandro Tonali showed – his future still has a very strong red and black tinge.
Pioli relies heavily on him and appreciates his technical abilities and tactical flexibility. In fact, he has often given his full-back a double role: in addition to his canonical jousting on the wing, Calabria comes into the middle of the pitch too to help build-up play.
It should not be surprising that – thanks to his tactical possibilities – the club chose not to sign a deputy to Theo Hernandez. That role could be filled by Florenzi or even Marco Pellegrini, but the captain would answer the call too.
When the captain needs to rest, Pioli has often opted for Kalulu, although he prefers him as a central defender. Calabria on the other hand is always there and his aim is to win back his Italy spot too.
