Spalletti has selection headache with left-footed Italy defenders

Italy national team head coach Luciano Spalletti confirmed that he will use a back three system as a default moving forwards, but the Azzurri have a minor issue when it comes to their defensive options, as they are unlikely to be able to fit their best centre-backs into the same team.

Speaking at his press conference on Monday, Spalletti confirmed that he will opt to use a back three system as default moving forwards.

The CT had instructed the team to build in a back three, but defend in a four and looked to change systems mid-way through matches at EURO 2024, which he admitted was too much to ask for.

He hopes that setting a default formation will provide clarity to his players.

Why left-footed defenders could be a problem for Italy 

While there is often a supply and demand issue when it comes to left-footed, ball-playing centre-backs, Italy have the opposite problem in that they have too many of them to fit into the same team.

Inter’s Alessandro Bastoni, Napoli’s Alessandro Buongiorno and Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori are all predominantly left-footed, and when lining up in a back three, would usually be best suited to playing on the left-hand side of the defensive line.

Bastoni plays the role of the left sided defender in a back three week-in-week-out for Inter, and Buongiorno has also lined up in the same position for his first two Serie A starts with Napoli.

Having only appeared off the bench for Arsenal so far, Calafiori’s most recent start for club or country came against Croatia at EURO 2024, when he played in that same position, with Bastoni lining up in the middle of the three.

While there is still the option to play two of them in the same pitch, perhaps moving Buongiorno or Bastoni into the middle, it is unlikely that Spalletti will be able to field all three in the same starting line-up, even though they are arguably Italy’s best three central defenders individually.

That means that one of Bastoni, Buongiorno or Calafiori is unlikely to line up in what would be Italy’s strongest XI.

For that reason, the introduction of Juventus’s Federico Gatti to the national team set-up and the recent call-up for Leicester City’s Caleb Okoli could prove to be very important for Italy moving forwards. It would also not be a surprise to see Napoli’s Giovanni Di Lorenzo line up in the back three, as he has done at club level under Conte.