Nigerian-born Udogie gets Italy first call-up for Euro qualifiers

Italy have included Nigerian-born Tottenham Hotspur defender Destiny Udogie for the first time in their squad for this month’s European Championship qualifiers against Malta and England, the Italian football federation (FIGC) said on Friday.

Luciano Spalletti included the former Udinese left back in his second squad selection as Azzurri manager after the 20-year-old started for Spurs in all seven of their Premier League games so far this season.

Midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini is sidelined after suffering a muscle injury in AS Roma’s Europa League game against Servette on Thursday.

Italy are in second place and trail England by six points with a game in hand on all of their Group C rivals. They host bottom side Malta on Oct. 14 in Bari before travelling to face England at Wembley three days later.

Italy squad:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris St Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham Hotspur)

Defenders: Francesco Acerbi, Alessandro Bastoni (both Inter Milan), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Gianluca Mancini (AS Roma) , Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Destiny Udogie (Tottenham)

Midfielders: Nicolo Barella (Inter), Giacomo Bonaventura (Fiorentina), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle United)

Attackers: Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Moise Kean (Juventus), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio), Nicolo Zaniolo (Aston Villa)

-Reuters