“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Gennaro Gattuso must have thought. The Italian manager is confident of having the best possible squad and is exploring all possibilities, with the Azzurri facing Northern Ireland in the play-offs and either Wales or Bosnia in the final.
However, his plans were severely thwarted. Gattuso was thinking of “recovering” Marco Verratti. The 33-year-old Italy international has not played for Italy since June 18, 2023.
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That would be impossible. The Al Duhail midfielder, who has played 55 games for Azura, has been injured. Verratti has suffered a torn meniscus and will need surgery within the next few hours.
He thus joins Italy’s long list of absentees, including Di Lorenzo, Oudosier, Rovella, Leoni, Gabbia and Vergara.
That’s why Gattuso reached out to another “old rocker” Jorginho. According to journalist Bruno Lemos, the Flamengo midfielder received a phone call from the manager on Saturday informing him that he had been included in the reserve squad.
Like Verratti, 34-year-old Jorginho has also been left out of the Azzurra squad for some time. His last match for Italy was almost two years ago, on June 24, 2024, against Croatia.
