Mancini’s right about building a young core for Italy’s future, and the Türkiye win showed just that

In partnership with

Get Italian Football News

·29 September 2026

Mancini’s right about building a young core for Italy’s future, and the Türkiye win showed just that

Ahead of his side’s Nations League game against Türkiye in Bursa, Italy head coach Roberto Mancini had explained his decision to leave ten players from his squad back in Coverciano, specifying not just the need to spare them an arduous travel but also to familiarise himself to the young players in his contingent.

“It wasn’t difficult to give up on Barella [left back home] because we know his value, but these matches are useful for getting to know the younger players, the players who will be the ones who will have to accompany our journey in the coming years. If we don’t see them in the match, I can’t do it in two training sessions: there it’s not clear whether a footballer is capable of being a protagonist in certain matches or not.”

Quote sourced from La Gazzetta dello Sport

OneFootball Videos

And the decision paid off. Gli Azzurri followed up their 2–0 home defeat against Belgium with a resounding 4–1 victory over Türkiye, with young Michael Kayode and Pio Esposito shining brightest with their goals.

Mancini has always understood the need to have a young core in the national team setup, and it’s about time those at Coverciano understand it as well. Italy tried punctuating their decline with a quick-fix World Cup qualification, hoping participating in the flagship event would help move the trajectory upwards, only to have missed out three times in a row.

Now, in the lowest of places, Italy are more open than ever to a cultural reset they have badly needed, and this is as ideal a chance they can have. Nations League offer competitive yet comparatively low-stakes football; a relegation would not destroy a them outright, but it would give the young players some much-needed experience and opportunity to come together as a unit.

The Euros are two years away. Prepare now, and Italy will have set themselves up for a respectable outing in two years’ time, which could then prove to be the foundation to at least return to the World Cup in 2030, with a home Euros waiting for them two more years down the line.

Mancini understands this. He understands that preparations begin now, and he believes he’s already seeing positive signs even if the result is not there.

“Right now, I don’t feel like time is my enemy. We know we’ve started this journey, which will be long, short, I don’t know… But it will definitely take some time to do it, since between these two games we only did two training sessions, one of which was exhausting… Despite everything, there was a positive second half in the match against Belgium. I didn’t say it, that I’m the coach of Italy and I could only look for the positive things,but De Ketelaere admitted it when he explained that they were unable to do anything. So there were some positive things against Belgium too.”

Next, Italy face France in Saint-Denis on Friday before hosting Türkiye at the Renato Dall’Ara on Monday night to conclude the international break.

Anshuman Joshi | GIFN