Gattuso has six guaranteed starters ahead of first test as Italy CT

Thursday’s reports claim that Italy CT Gennaro Gattuso has six ‘guaranteed starters’ in mind ahead of his first match in charge of the Nazionale, which falls against Estonia in World Cup qualification on Friday evening. 

Gattuso is preparing to take charge of his first match as head coach of the Italy national team following his appointment in June. He was appointed as the successor to Luciano Spalletti, who decided to terminate his contract after a 3-0 defeat by Norway on June 6. 

Gattuso called up a bumper squad of 28 players for his first national team training camp. That list has since become 27 following the departure of Gianluca Scamacca, who has returned to Atalanta after feeling pain in his knee. 

Given that the Estonia match is a World Cup qualifier and not a friendly, Gattuso will have to whittle his squad down to 23 players on Friday. 

Who is expected to start in Italy-Estonia? 

According to Thursday’s reports, Gattuso has six ‘guaranteed starters’, but it remains to be seen who he will field in the other five positions. 

There are no real surprises among those six players who are expected to start. They include captain Gianluigi Donnarumma, Napoli skipper Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Inter pair Alessandro Bastoni and Nicolo Barella, Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali and Fiorentina striker Moise Kean. 

Gattuso has confirmed that he is planning on going with a back four, in either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 system. 

Pre-match reports indicate that Riccardo Calafiori, Federico Dimarco, Manuel Locatelli, Matteo Politano and Mattia Zaccagni are also likely to start, but there could still be some alterations before kick-off. 

Possible Italy XI: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Calafiori, Bastoni, Dimarco; Barella, Locatelli, Tonali; Politano, Kean, Zaccagni.