Fagioli’s surprise inclusion highlights Juve quartet on Italy’s Euro 2024 roster

For seven months — which proved to be much of the 2023-24 season — Nicolo Fagioli sat on the sidelines watching his teammates play. They went through ups and downs, but it was Fagioli who was only able to train with them at Continassa because of the gambling suspension that he himself had to own and get treatment as a result of.

But with that suspension now a thing of the past, it’s now pretty clear: no matter how little game action he has under his belt since October, Fagioli is very much an important piece to the puzzle for club and country going forward.

That was shown to the case once again Thursday, as Fagioli was the biggest surprise of the four Juventus players named to Italy’s roster for the upcoming Euro 2024 tournament in Germany. Nicky Beans will be joined in azzurro by Juve teammates Federico Chiesa, Andrea Cambiaso and Federico Gatti, who himself is a very good story knowing where he was playing football just a few years before Juventus signed him in 2022. Fagioli has played in just three games for club and country since his seven-month suspension ended on May 20 and he was eligible to be called up again, with his most recent appearance coming earlier this week in Italy’s friendly against Kenan Yildiz and Turkey that ended in a scoreless draw.

Below is the full 26-man roster that Italy manager Luciano Spalletti has announced.

So, as you can see, it’s certainly not the biggest Juventus representation on this roster. But there’s a player in Riccardo Calafiori who could very well end up being a Juve player in relatively short order. And, depending on how you feel about Alex Meret, there probably should be another soon-to-be Juventus player included in the three-man goalkeeper group in Michele Di Gregorio. (I mean, the guy was named as the best keeper in Serie A this season, right?)

It is, however, the same number of Juventus players that made the Euro 2020(1) roster. We all know how that turned out.

In terms of name recognition, Chiesa is very much the biggest one of the Juve contingent. And while his Juventus future seems very much up in the air, the hope is that he has a big tournament so that he comes back to Turin with a whole lot of confidence and things a little more back on track or somebody comes in with a very Euro-influenced bid and Juve can cash in if he is going to be sold so that he doesn’t leave on a free next summer.

Like Fagioli, Cambiaso and Gatti will be at their first major tournament with Italy’s senior squad. Out of the four Juve players included by Spalletti, Cambiaso is coming off the best season after his strong debut campaign in bianconero. Although, it’s still a little unclear where he might fit into things with Spalletti knowing what other fullback/wingback options the 65-year-old manager has. Gatti, meanwhile, was out of the provisional squad when it was first announced but has been called up due to a injuries to multiple central defenders, the most recent being Atalanta’s Giorgio Scalvini tearing his ACL a week ago.

Italy opens group stage play on Saturday, June 15, against Albania.