EURO 2020 Qualifiers: Mancini Drops Moise Kean From Italy Squad

Moise Kean has been left out of the Italy squad for the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers after arriving late to a team meeting, head coach Roberto Mancini has revealed.

The Everton striker and Roma’s Nicolo Zaniolo will play no part in games against Armenia and Finland in the coming fortnight, with Mancini saying “professionals must always behave well”.

Kean’s omission from the Italy squad comes after Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness criticised the 19-year-old’s character, suggesting his “off-the-field activities are not the best”.

Both Kean and Zaniolo have both previously impressed on duty with the senior team, but arrived late to camp for the Euro Under-21 Championships earlier this summer.

Speaking at his press conference on Tuesday, Mancini said: “My team is already quite defined.

“If any interesting new faces came forward, we’d make them available to us. We’ll see what happens between now and the start of the European Championship.

“Here we are with the players who have been called up. If someone sensational breaks out, we’d gladly call them up.

“We gave them a great opportunity and we hope this helps them going forward. They must learn to behave well. Professionals must always behave well.”

Kean completed a summer switch to Everton from Juventus for an initial £27.5m – a relatively cheap fee for one of the most highly-regarded young strikers in Europe.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ football show, Super Sunday, Souness said: “At 19, why have they sold him? Personally, slight alarm bells are going off in my head. Juventus are arguably the biggest club in Italy, the wealthiest club in Italy.

“Do they have a buy-back clause, Juve? Because if they’ve not got that, that would tell you they’re happy to see him out the door then. At 19, it doesn’t make any common sense if you’re Juventus. It’s as if maybe his off-the-field activities are not the best.”