There has been criticism that the Italy squad assembled by Luciano Spalletti for Euro 2024 was lacking in quality, but he was forced to do without several key names.

Italy was eliminated from Euro 2024 in the round of 16 after losing 2:0 to Switzerland, after beating Albania 2:1, losing 1:0 to Spain and drawing 1:1 with Croatia in the group stage, KosovaPress reports.

Inevitably, discussion of the shock elimination has centered around the quality of players at Spalletti's disposal, with distortions of why Italian football is failing to produce talent.

However, this does not take into account the large number of players who would have been part of this group.

First among them is midfielder Sandro Tonali, who is still out until next month after being suspended for illegal gambling.

He would have started in midfield and not Nicolò Fagioli, who himself only returned to the pitch for Juventus at the end of May due to a similar suspension.

Defensively, Tottenham right-back Destiny Udogie was injured and Scudetto-winning centre-back Francesco Acerbi was forced to withdraw from pre-tournament training camp.

Domenico Berardi was a key figure in Italy's Euro 2020 trophy-winning side and has an excellent record at international level, scoring eight goals and providing three assists in 28 appearances.

The Sassuolo icon will be out for months with a ruptured Achilles tendon. Nicolò Zaniolo was probably a guaranteed starter too, until he was forced to withdraw with a fracture suffered with Aston Villa.