Marco Verratti's PSG side may have got knocked out of the UEFA Champions League in the last week, but now the challenge of a different UEFA competition comes calling as his country try to retain their European Championship.
They won the trophy in London in the summer of 2021, a penalty victory over England saw the Italians strike gold and they will need to overcome the Three Lions again before giving a go at retaining their trophy.
Away from international football, the 30 year old has recently extended his contract in Paris for another three years, taking his stay in the French capital all the way to 2026.
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"Happy" in Paris, and also on national duty
Verratti was quizzed on whether he was truly happy whilst at his club, especially following their defeat to Bayern Munich just over a week ago which condemned the French giants to another season without continental silverware.
The midfielder rubbished this however, saying "I'm happy wherever I'm playing football. Representing my country is wonderful, it’s absolutely fantastic - when I’m here I’m obviously very happy but I’m also happy in Paris."
With the rumour mill spinning, however, there may well be a return to Italian football with his last spell in the Italian leagues being for hometown club Pescara in Serie B back in 2012. Remarkably, he has never played Serie A football.
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A fan of Declan Rice
It's easy to make comparisons between English and Italian players given the similarity in quality and philosophy between the two national teams and Verratti was asked about West Ham centre back Declan Rice.
Rice chose to play for England in 2019 despite turning out for the Irish national team on three occasions the year before. Currently at West Ham United, most think that it is only a matter of time before the midfielder gets a move to a club regularly playing in the Champions League, and Verratti shared that view.
He said "I really like him (Declan Rice) as a player, he provides great balance and shape to the team and he’s got wonderful physical attributes and helps his team out a lot. I think he’s a number six, so a defensive midfielder that England really need and I’m sure he’ll end up at a top side. I’ve played against him many times, he never gives up, he’s got a wonderful attitude and he’s still very young so there’s lots of room for improvement."
The last time the two players faced off was last summer in Milan with Italy running out 1-0 winners, in fact England have only won once against the Azzurri since the turn of the millennium - a 2-1 win in the Stadium Wankdorf, Switzerland as a post Euro 2012 friendly.
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New call up "wants to be there"
Roberto Mancini made a big statement in including Argentinian striker Mateo Retegui to the Italian national selection with the attacker able to play for Italy through his grandad who was from Sicily and emigrated to Argentina.
Despite not having trained with Retegui extensively, the first signs were good for Verratti.
"We haven’t had a chance to train a great deal with him because we’ve had two very busy days of training. The gaffer has said he’s a very well mannered, switched on kid. He’s made a good impression on me, and as the coach has said we need to give him a bit of time - it’s not easy (to come into the Italy squad for the first time) by any means. He’s only trained twice with us but physically he looks like he’s up to it and he wants to be there, I’m sure he’ll give us a big helping hand", Verratti claimed.
Retegui has scored 29 in 50 for Tigres in the Argentinian League and will hope to recreate his divisional scoring form on the International stage and repay the trust given by Mancini, with it being rare that Italian players are selected whilst playing for club sides in different countries.
