Jorginho named in Italy's Euro 2024 squad

Jorginho has been handed the opportunity to help Italy retain the European Championship by being included in their Euro 2024 squad.

The 32-year-old adds plenty of experience to Luciano Spalletti’s group, having won 53 caps for his country since debuting back in 2016.

Incredibly, it is only the second time Jorgi is heading to a major finals, given Italy’s failure to qualify for the last two World Cups, but he’ll be hoping to emulate his side’s achievements three years ago when they went all the way to beat England in the final and clinch their second Euros success.

However much has changed since then, not just the coach with Roberto Mancini’s shock exit in August last year, which led to ex-Napoli coach Spalletti taking the reigns of the European champions. Only five players who started the Euro 2020 final three years remain in the squad - goalkeeper and captain Gianluigi Donnarumma, right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Jorgi and his midfield partner Nicolo Barella plus striker Federico Chiesa.

The Italians have been placed in arguably the toughest group, and will start the defence of their title with a game against Albania on Friday, June 14, before massive games against Spain six days later, and another tough task against Croatia on Monday, June 24.

Despite the upheaval, Jorgi featured in three of the Azzurri’s eight qualifying games, but helped them secure an automatic qualification berth by beating North Macedonia and holding nearest rivals Ukraine to a draw in their final two matches to clinch second spot behind England.

He has featured in their three friendly matches building up the finals, including skippering his nation for the second time on Tuesday night in a goalless draw against Turkey. Italy round off their preparations with a game against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday.

Full Italy squad

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Guglielmo Vicario (Spurs), Alex Meret (Napoli).

Defenders: Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Raoul Bellanova (Torino), Federico Gatti (Juventus).

Midfielders: Bryan Cristante (Roma), Jorginho (Arsenal), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Nicolo Barella (Inter), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Nicolo Fagioli (Juventus), Michael Folorunsho (Verona).

Forwards: Mateo Retegui (Genoa), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta).