Mario Balotelli has been recalled from training camp in Italy this week so that coach Roberto Mancini, who will speak on Wednesday, can see if the striker can “help” in the World Cup play-offs in March. “What did he promise me? Absolutely nothing,” Mancini said during an online press conference at the start of the three-day camp in Florence. The 31-year-old striker plays for his 10th club, Adana Demirspor in Turkey, after playing for Monza in Serie B last season.
“He was called up as others have been called up. We look forward to seeing him again in a little while,” said Mancini, who coached Balotelli at both Inter Milan and Manchester City and recalled him in 2018 after a four-year absence from the national team. , for the last three of his 36 caps for Italy.
“He must not promise me anything, just as I must not promise him anything. We will evaluate whether he can help.”
“Technically Mario has always been good, it’s not a problem. We have to see where he is physically. We have lost track of him a bit,” said Mancini, who has called 35 players to the camp in preparation for the game-offen.
In 2018, Italy missed the World Cup for the first time in 60 years, after losing 1-0 to Sweden overall in a two-game play-off.
To reach Qatar, Italy must first defeat North Macedonia at home on March 24 and then Portugal or Turkey in a match scheduled for March 29.
“What is also fundamental is integrating a player into an existing group, a group that has had good results,” said Mancini, who led Italy to the European title in July.
Mancini rejected suggestions that Balotelli’s recall was a “desperate” move.
“The door of the national team is always open to everyone,” he said.
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Mancini said his biggest “concern” was not to lose any more players to injury.
Striker Federico Chiesa, one of the stars of Euro 2020, is out until the end of the season and left-back Leonardo Spinazzola suffered an Achilles tendon injury during the tournament and is out for the season.
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