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Speaking at a press conference on Monday afternoon in Coverciano, Italy manager\u00a0Luciano Spalletti has insisted that the omission of Tottenham Hotspur left-back Destiny Udogie from the latest\u00a0Azzurri squad was not a technical decision.<\/p>\n
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The Super Eagles-eligible player has not been called up for Italy’s 2024 European Championship qualifying matches against\u00a0North Macedonia at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on November 17 and Ukraine at the BayArena on November 20.<\/p>\n
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Spalletti has included four uncapped players on his 26-man roster –\u00a0Ivan Provedel (Lazio), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham Hotspur), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus) and Andrea Colpani (Monza).<\/p>\n
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Udogie made his senior debut off the bench against Malta on October 14 and was involved from the off against England three days later.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Since the end of the international break in October, Udogie has struggled with fitness problems and was not available for selection against Wolverhampton Wanderers this past weekend due to suspension.<\/p>\n
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A muscle injury kept him out of the victory at Crystal Palace and on his return to action\u00a0in another London derby, the Italian-Nigerian youngster was sent off for two bookable offenses nine minutes into the second half in the home loss to Chelsea.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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“Destiny Udogie is not here because he is injured \u2014 that was not my technical decision,” Spalletti told reporters.<\/p>\n
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Assuming Udogie was called up and played in both matches this month, the Verona native would have taken his senior caps for Italy to four, meaning he would no longer have been eligible to play for the Super Eagles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Ifeanyi Emmanuel\u00a0<\/p>\n
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