The forward had been one of the strong candidates to start in last night’s 2-0 home defeat to Belgium at the Stadio Olimpico.
Instead, a fitness issue saw him left in the stands, not even ready for a spot on the bench.
Zaniolo has left the Italy camp
The situation had not improved today, so the decision was taken to send Zaniolo back to his club for treatment ruling him out of what would’ve been his first Italy game since 2024.
He had sustained a hamstring injury last month and only made one appearance for Udinese since then.
Zaniolo is the latest player to withdraw from the Azzurri squad after Federico Dimarco and Bryan Cristante, who were replaced by Matteo Ruggeri and Samuele Ricci.
Others like Marco Palestra were already carrying knocks and simply were not included in Roberto Mancini’s squad list.
Italy will continue their Nations League campaign with a trip to Turkiye on Monday September 28, then visit France on October 2.
This break for international duty concludes by hosting Turkiye on October 5 at the Stadio Dall’Ara in Bologna.