Silvio Baldini has said that Inter striker Francesco Pio Esposito wants to represent the Italy U21 team at the upcoming European Championships next summer, provided he is not too busy with the senior squad in June: “We hope they’ll leave him with us”.

Baldini: Esposito ‘told me’ he wants to play for Italy U21s at the Euros

Baldini and Italy have recently qualified for the U21 European Championship coming up in the summer of 2027 thanks to a thumping 6-2 victory against Poland in their final qualifying match. The win moved them ahead of their opponents into first place in the group and sealed a guaranteed spot at the final tournament in the process.

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Baldini has high hopes for the Azzurrini at the EUROs, claiming in a recent interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport that he wants to win the title and an Olympic gold medal the following summer and that both of these achievements are “definitely feasible.”

Baldini was also asked by the Pink Paper whether he intends on taking any eligible members of the senior Italy squad to the EUROs at the end of the season. Anybody born in 2004 or after will be allowed to feature, so that includes the likes of Esposito, Michael Kayode, Marco Palestra and Alessandro Romano.

Baldini says that he wants to continue working with the group that qualified for the EUROs, but says that Esposito ‘gave his availability’ over the summer.

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“I’ll keep the ones that I have, my boys,” Baldini told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“The only one who has given me his availability is Pio Esposito if he’s not too busy with the senior national team. When we left off in June, he told me he wanted to play in the European Championship because he’d also missed it two years earlier. We hope that there are no hitches and that they’ll leave him with us.”