Spalletti and Gattuso agree on Acerbi’s future in Italian national team

Luciano Spalletti reveals the reasoning behind his decision regarding Francesco Acerbi — age factor becomes the main consideration in Italian national team selection.

“I admit I didn’t call him before because I wanted to strengthen Riccardo Calafiori and Alessandro Buongiorno. I believe every coach would make the same choice,” explains Spalletti.

“About Acerbi, I did ask: ‘How old is he?’, but that was really because I was calculating for the next World Cup,” he adds.

Gennaro Gattuso — the new Italian national team coach — takes a similar stance to his predecessor.

“In the last few days, I have communicated with 35 players,” reveals Gattuso who also excludes Acerbi from his player list.