When Roberto Mancini decided to call up Wilfried Gnonto to the Italy national team when he was still at FC Zürich, before his transfer to Leeds United, everyone was surprised.
The youngster then played, and people saw someone they could get excited about, which is when the Elland Road side swooped ahead of time and signed him up for a small fee.
He then exploded at Leeds in the Premier League, even if he was unable to stop them from getting relegated, but his performances for the national team of late haven’t been great, and some, including journalist Giancarlo Padovan, are calling for him to be dropped.
This comes just a day or so after another journalist was saying that the forward didn’t deserve to wear the Italy shirt, grouping him with Nicolo Zaniolo.
While the latter changed a few minds with his performance against Ukraine, the Leeds forward did not, and Padovan believes Gnonto shouldn’t be part of the next squad put together by Luciano Spalletti.
He sais so on Radio Napoli Centrale, relayed by Napoli Magazine: “Gnonto and Orsolini cannot stay in the Azzurri shirt. I’m hoping that Berardi and Chiesa will be confirmed. We then have a team that raises the technical level.”
In short, Gnonto might have to work extra hard to get back into the good books of the Italian media, starting with extended game time at Leeds United.
Then, if he does get called up, he will need to take that club form onto the pitch at international level, or these sort of calls will continue to appear.
