The excitement is building as we near the return of Roberto Mancini’s side, as the team continues its preparations for UEFA Nations League games against Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Netherlands. Yesterday evening, the Azzurri trained at Florence’s Stadio Artemio Franchi, which will host Friday’s game against Edin Dzeko’s Bosnia.

Given the unavailability of Sandro Tonali, Mancini dropped him from the Brescia player from his squad; the Azzurri coach has now been forced to exclude Federico Bernardeschi due to muscle strain. Instead, Jorginho will train with the group this afternoon; the Chelsea midfielder, who arrived at Coverciano yesterday, tested negative for coronavirus in the necessary medical exams.

On the hunt for his 11th goal with the national team, Ciro Immobile will be hoping to recreate his stunning domestic form from the season just gone. The Lazio striker bagged 36 goals in Serie A, winning the European Golden Boot - becoming only the third Italian to ever win the award after Luca Toni and Francesco Totti. He discussed it in today’s press conference: “the Golden Boot is an important award. It gave me a lot of satisfaction to win this award ahead of some amazing players. I’m proud of what I’ve done and I’ve come here feeling really good. I want to do well with Italy too. Everyone expect a lot from me and for me to do what I did at club level.”

The prolific forward, who has just signed a new contract with Lazio lasting until 2025, is looking ahead, to a season that will end in June with an extremely important tournament: “I need to go into the Euros in the best of form. It’ll be a long and complicated year, so I’ll need to be in the right frame of mind in the difficult moments.” And when he was asked whether he felt as though he was still in with a shout of starting for the Azzurri, he answered, “I think everyone needs to think they can start. Mancini has always had me and Belotti playing in a game each and, while physical fitness is a big topic, I think that’s the right way to go. The competition between us is healthy. We need to go into the Euros as a group of 23 players; if we stick together, then we can do something great. Postponing the Euros was good for us because we’ll have an extra year to develop.”

Thoughts now return to the Nations League and the desire to head to Amsterdam on Sunday with three points in the bag: “We’ll need to play smart against Bosnia, perhaps because our physical condition is not optimal. We need to start with a win.”

The full squad list

Goalkeepers: Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Torino);

Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Cristiano Biraghi (Inter), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Mattia Caldara (Atalanta), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Danilo D’Ambrosio (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Alessandro Florenzi (Roma), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Luca Pellegrini (Juventus), Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma);

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Giacomo Bonaventura, Gaetano Castrovilli (Fiorentina), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Jorginho* (Chelsea), Roberto Gagliardini (Inter), Manuel Locatelli (Sassuolo), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Stefano Sensi (Inter), Sandro Tonali* (Brescia), Nicolò Zaniolo (Roma);

Forwards: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Francesco Caputo (Sassuolo), Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina), Stephan El Shaarawy (Shanghai Shenua), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Moise Kean (Everton), Kevin Lasagna (Udinese), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna).

*Suspended call-ups awaiting the outcome of medical tests once the players' respective isolation requirements are complete.

The schedule (all times CEST):

Monday 31 August

13:45 – Press conference with a player at the Coverciano Auditorium

17:30 – Training (behind closed doors)

Tuesday 1 September

13:45 – Press conference with a player at the Coverciano Auditorium

17:30 – Training (behind closed doors)

Wednesday 2 September

13:45 – Press conference with a player at the Coverciano Auditorium

17:30 – Training (behind closed doors)

Thursday 3 September

17:00 – Italy’s press conference (Coach and one player) at the Stadio Franchi in Florence (location TBC) 

17:30 - Italy’s training at the Stadio Franchi in Florence (open to the press for the first 15 minutes - location TBC)

18:30 – Bosnia & Herzegovina’s press conference (Coach and one player) at the Stadio Franchi in Florence

19:00 – Bosnia & Herzegovina’s training at the Stadio Franchi in Florence (open to the press for the first 15 minutes)

Friday 4 September

20:45 - Italy vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina (Stadio Franchi in Florence)

Followed by a press conference with the Coach

Saturday 5 September

10:00 – Training (behind closed doors)

17:30 – Transfer Florence to Venice

Sunday 6 September

10:45 – Transfer Venice to Amsterdam

11:00 – The Netherlands’ training at the KNVB Campus (open to the press for the first 15 minutes)

13:15 – The Netherlands’ press conference (Coach and one player) at the KNVB Campus

17:30 - Italy’s press conference (Coach and one player) at the Johan Cruijff ArenA

18:00 – Italy’s training at the Johan Cruijff ArenA (open to the press for the first 15 minutes)

Monday 7 September

20:45 – Netherlands vs. Italy (Johan Cruijff ArenA)

Followed by a press conference with the Coach and the squad’s return to Italy