Chelsea players called up to Germany, Italy national teams

The October international break begins after this weekend, but as usual, for many Chelsea players, it won’t actually mean a break from games.

GERMANY

Chelsea’s one-man German “contingent” these days is Antonio Rüdiger, who’s become a key player for Maurizio Sarri just as quickly as he had done so for Conte last season. He’s been a constant for Joachim Low’s Germany squads as well as a result.

The full squad that will take on the Netherlands and France in the Nations League is as follows:

GOALKEEPERS: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt);

DEFENDERS: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Jonas Hector (Cologne), Mats Hummels (Bayern Munich), Thilo Kehrer (Paris Saint-Germain), Antonio Rüdiger (Chelsea), Nico Schulz (Hoffenheim), Niklas Süle (Bayern Munich), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich);

MIDFIELDERS: Julian Draxler (PSG), Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich), Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen), Sebastian Rudy (Schalke 04), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid);

FORWARDS: Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Leroy Sane (Manchester City), Mark Uth (Schalke 04), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Timo Werner (RB Leipzig).

ITALY

The Azzurri are trying to recover from the trauma of missing out on the last World Cup. Their new manager Roberto Mancini is also attempting to find his footing with the team, discovering solutions to help with their problems in the process, which partly explains why he called up 28 players, instead of going for the usual 23-man list.

Two of Chelsea’s three-man Italian group have made into the selection. Full back Emerson Palmieri and midfielder Jorginho have retained their places from the last call-up in September. The odd one out is our other backup fullback, Davide Zappacosta, and that’s hardly surprising.

The full squad, which will meet Ukraine (friendly) and Poland (Nations League) this month, is as follows:

GOALKEEPERS: Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan), Mattia Perin (Juventus), Salvatore Sirigu (Torino);

DEFENDERS: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Danilo D’Ambrosio (Inter), Emerson Palmieri (Chelsea), Alessandro Florenzi (Roma), Alessio Romagnoli (Milan);

MIDFIELDERS: Nicolo Barella (Cagliari), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Giacomo Bonaventura (Milan), Roberto Gagliardini (Inter), Jorginho (Chelsea), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain);

FORWARDS: Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Gianluca Caprari (Sampdoria), Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina), Patrick Cutrone (Milan), Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto FC), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Simone Zaza (Torino).