Aston Villa star Nicolo Zaniolo was handed a baffling call-up to the Italian side recently but may well have started his last game under Luciano Spalletti after what happened in their 5-2 win over North Macedonia.
Federico Chiesa scored two first-half goals as the defending champions triumphed on Friday (18 November) to gain a measure of revenge and move closer to qualifying for the European Championship next summer.
The Italians now need only a draw against Ukraine on Monday (20 November) to secure a spot at next year’s tournament in Germany.
And Zaniolo who came on as a second-half substitute had another cameo to forget in what’s been a difficult campaign so far for the Galatasaray loanee.
Signed on loan from Galatasaray during the summer, after injuries to both Ramsey and Emilian Buendia, the Italian international was supposed to provide Aston Villa with the cutting-edge influence in attack they needed to progress even further this season.
While the Villans are on track to do so, Zaniolo has proven rather anonymous so far in his Villa career, with the likes of John McGinn, Moussa Diaby and Ollie Watkins doing most of the dirty work.
In his nine Premier League games so far this season, he’s yet to register a single goal or an assist, has recorded just 0.7 key passes per game, registered zero big chances created and his shots on target per game are pretty woeful with just 0.4 [SofaScore]
His period in an Aston Villa shirt was made all the more concerning when he was forced to withdraw from the Azzurri training camp in Coverciano last month after police questioned him and Sandro Tonali regarding the recent Serie A betting scandal.
The Aston Villa forward has been questioned by the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office and has continued playing football regularly while his counterpart Tonali is banned from all footballing activities for 18 months.
It seemed rather controversial for Spalletii to call up the former Roma man, not just for the betting scandal he is embroiled in right now but also for his woeful performances for Aston Villa in recent weeks.
The 3-1 win over Luton Town on 29 October further reflected just how much Zaniolo is struggling to acclimatise himself despite Aston Villa playing with such superb confidence right now.
