Chiesa and Zaniolo top list of notable absentees from Gattuso’s latest Italy squad

Liverpool’s Federico Chiesa and Udinese’s Nicolo Zaniolo are among the most notable absentees from Gennaro Gattuso’s latest Italy national team squad for World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Norway during the November international break. 

Gattuso confirmed a squad of 27 players on Friday, naming a tried and tested group that included just one new call-up: Goalkeeper Elia Caprile, who is unlikely to start over Gianluigi Donnarumma this month. 

There had been suggestions, however, that Chiesa was heading for a return to the national team set-up after an encouraging start to the season with Liverpool. 

Chiesa has not been called up for national team duty since Italy’s disappointing EURO 2024 exit. Since then, he has left Juventus, joined Liverpool, spent a full season waiting for first-team opportunities, but has recently impressed with his performances in 2025-26. 

Chiesa scored his first Premier League goal in a 4-2 win over AFC Bournemouth in the opening week of the 2025-26 season, and scored again in the English top flight in a 2-1 loss against Crystal Palace in September. 

Though all of his Premier League outings have come from the bench this season, Chiesa has already earned more league appearances this term than he did in the whole of 2024-25 (seven vs. six). Still, that has not been enough to earn a return to the Italy national team squad. 

Another forward who has impressed in recent weeks is the opinion-dividing Zaniolo, who has scored three goals in his last four Serie A appearances for Udinese. Those goals have come in a a 1-1 draw against Cremonese, a 3-1 loss against Juventus and an encouraging 1-0 win over Atalanta. 

Also absent from the latest Italy squad is Tottenham left-back Destiny Udogie, who has only started three times in the Premier League so far this season. The 22-year-old missed the first few weeks of the season while recovering from a knee injury, but has also faced strong competition from England international Djed Spence at club level this season. 

It has also been a troubling time for the Spurs full-back on a personal level, following confirmation that he was threatened at gunpoint by a football agent in September. 

There is also no room for Napoli striker Lorenzo Lucca in the latest Italy squad. The towering centre-forward has often played second fiddle to Rasmus Hojlund at club level with Napoli this season, and has been limited to just one goal from 11 appearances acfross all competitions this season. That is not enough to get in the squad over the likes of Moise Kean, Mateo Retegui and Pio Esposito. 

Goalkeepers: Elia Caprile (Cagliari), Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham).

Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Raoul Bellanova (Atalanta), Alessandro Buongiorno (Napoli), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Matteo Gabbia (Milan), Gianluca Mancini (Roma).

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Samuele Ricci (Milan), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle).

Forwards: Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter), Moise Kean (Fiorentina), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Atletico Madrid), Mateo Retegui (Al-Qadsiah), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio).