Which Italy players will Gattuso be keeping an eye on in Inter vs. Atalanta?

There is now less than a week to go before Gennaro Gattuso announced his Italy national team squad for the World Cup play-off campaign coming up at the end of March, and recent reports claim that the CT will be in San Siro to keep an eye on some of his players during Saturday’s Serie A match between Inter and Atalanta. 

Here is a reminder of the players who will be of interest to Gattuso ahead of the crucial Northern Ireland clash on March 26. 

Gattuso drawing up final plans for Italy’s World Cup play-offs 

Italy are due to take on Northern Ireland in a one-legged World Cup play-off semi-final on March 26, and the winner of that tie will go on to face either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina away from home in the play-off final on March 31: A one-off decider for a spot at the final tournament. 

Should Italy fail to win both matches, it will mean three consecutive World Cup absences for the joint-second-most successful nation in the tournament’s history. The Azzurri have not featured at the World Cup group stages since 2014 and have not won a knock-out game at the tournament since lifting the trophy in 2006 

Gattuso is expected to announce his squad for the World Cup play-offs, which will be played during the March international break, on Friday. 

Before then, he will be in San Siro to keep an eye on some of his players during Saturday’s Serie A match between Inter and Atalanta according to reports from Il Giorno and various other outlets. 

Between the Inter and Atalanta squads, there are 14 senior players who have either represented Italy in the past, or are tipped to earn a call-up in the near future. 

Cristian Chivu’s side contains five players who are practically guaranteed a spot in the side. They are Alessandro Bastoni, Federico Dimarco, Nicolo Barella, Davide Frattesi and Pio Esposito.

Bastoni is still nursing an impact injury he suffered against Milan last weekend, and might not start against Atalanta, but is still expected to be involved with the Italy national team squad. 

Senior Nerazzurri players in Matteo Darmian and Francesco Acerbi are highly unlikely to be involved in Gattuso’s next squad, though. 

Atalanta also have a decent crop of players hoping to be called up to the Italy squad next week. 

Marco Carnesecchi and Gianluca Scamacca are likely to be called up to the Italy squad next week. Giacomo Raspadori is normally a sure-fire pick as well, but there are still ongoing doubts surrounding his fitness. 

Evaluations could also be made over Giorgio Scalvini, who is expected to start against Inter on Saturday after serving his suspension in the Champions League midweek. 

Atalanta also have three Italian wing-backs on their books in Davide Zappacosta, Raoul Bellanova and Luca Bernasconi. Zappacosta has been performing well in recent weeks, but is not currently expected to be called up to the Italy squad.

Bellanova currently has plenty of position for a spot on Italy’s right flank given the recent form youngsters Marco Palestra, on loan from Atalanta to Cagliari, and Michael Kayode of Premier League side Brentford. Juventus’s Andrea Cambiaso is also expected to be called up and is capable of covering on the right, too.

Some reports, however, suggest that left-sided wing-back Bernasconi is among the players on Gattuso’s preliminary squad list.