Mancini explains Calò omission from Italy squad and hits back at agent

Roberto Mancini has explained why he decided to leave Frosinone midfielder Giacomo Calò out of his latest Italy national team squad, and has hit back at the player’s agent, who had accused the CT of not showing logic in his selections.

Newly-promoted Frosinone have been one of the surprise packages of the 2026-27 Serie A season, currently sitting above Juventus in sixth place, and Calò, who has five goals and an assist from 11 league appearances in central midfield so far, has been an instrumental figure behind their success.

Calò‘s agent, Vincenzo Pisacane, was keen to point out that his client is Italy’s leading goalscorer from central midfield in Serie A this season, and said that he hopes this ‘isn’t the death of meritocracy’ when it comes to national team call-ups.

“The players Mancini called up are all very strong, but I don’t think any of them have Calò’s numbers at the moment,” said Calò’s agent in a recent interview with TMW.

“That’s why it would have been right to call him up. I hope yesterday’s omission isn’t the death of meritocracy and that Giacomo can be called up later if he keeps this up. Otherwise, it means there’s no logic to the national team call-ups.”

Mancini has since had an opportunity to respond at his press conference at Coverciano on Monday.

He said that there is still a possibility that Calò is called up in the future, but explained that he wanted to take a look at a number of younger profiles in this camp. He also made it clear that he will not be dictated to by players’ agents.

“Now we need to find different solutions and try to make young players earn experience,” Mancini explained on Monday.

“Calò is one of the players doing well. Frosinone have 3-4 players who are good. We can’t call players who are already 29 or 30 right now. When we need them, we’ll do it, but not because his agent tells us so.”

Click here to read more from Mancini’s press conference.