Mancini leaves ten Italy players out ahead of Turkey clash

Roberto Mancini has cut ten players from his Italy squad for the Nations League fixture against Turkey in Bursa on Monday. Nicolò Barella, Gianluca Mancini and Honest Ahanor are among those left behind at Coverciano to follow what the FIGC called a "specific training programme".

The squad started at 34, and Nations League rules allow only 23 for the trip.

Barella, Coppola and Gianluca Mancini started the opening game against Belgium; Maldini and Zoma came off the bench in the second half. Inacio, Kouadio, Ricci and Pessina had already missed that match, while Ahanor was an unused substitute.

Ricci, a midfielder at AC Milan since October, has scored once for his club this season, and Zoma, a 22-year-old midfielder at FC Nurnberg since February, has ten. Inacio, a second striker who joined Borussia Dortmund in April, has three. None of the three will make the journey east.

Italy sit fourth in their Nations League group without a point after one match. The ten players staying behind will train alongside part of Mancini's staff, including Massimo Maccarone, Cristiano Lupatelli, Giulio Nuciari and Luca Bossi, who also skip the trip. Italy fly to Turkey today, with a press conference set for 17:15 CET.

The rotation looks aimed squarely at the fixtures still to come — away to France and a second meeting with Turkey, this time in Bologna — rather than at Monday's game alone. Managing a squad already trailing in the group, Mancini appears willing to spread the workload now rather than risk it later.