As feared, Giorgio Scalvini suffered a massive injury, an ACL tear in his left knee, in the makeup game versus Fiorentina. The problem will cost him a lot more than the Euro. The optimistic timetable for his return is five-to-six months, Ansa relays.
The defender will undergo surgery in the next few days. He scored a scorcher earlier in the match versus La Viola but then bowed out after an unnatural movement of the joint.
The long-term absence of Scalvini will likely force Atalanta to revise their transfer market plans and look for a replacement. They added Isak Hien from Verona in January, which helped them weather various absences in the back. The prodigy recently returned from a serious thigh strain. Sead Kolasinac also missed time in the final months.
Italy lose a second center-back after Francesco Acerbi, who will skip the Euro due to a sports hernia. Luciano Spalletti elected to alert but not call up Francesco Gatti in that case, but that’s expected to change soon. The only remaining options in such a role are Alessandro Bastoni, Alessandro Buongiorno, and Gianluca Mancini.
Our Take on Scalvini
It’s extremely unfortunate to go down in a rather meaningless game, and hopefully, the rehab will proceed quickly and without a hitch. There wasn’t much chatter about his departure, but the possibility of cashing in on him was always there for Atalanta. As for Italy, another specialist going down might spell the end of the idea of switching to a three-man line permanently.
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