Vicario starts for Tottenham despite Italy rejection and surgery decision
Italy international Guglielmo Vicario has been named as a starter for Tottenham’s Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon, despite recently turning down a call-up to the national team due to an operation he is due to have next week.
Why is Vicario starting for Tottenham but is not part of the Italy squad?
Vicario was not named in Gennaro Gattuso’s 28-player Italy squad for the World Cup play-offs coming up this international break. The Azzurri will host Northern Ireland on Thursday evening in the semi-final and the winner of that match will go on to face either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina away from home for a spot at the final tournament.
Tottenham confirmed that the reason behind Vicario’s absence from the Italy squad was due to the fact that he is due to have surgery on a sports hernia.
This procedure is expected to take place next week, and is likely to rule the stopper out for around a month.
Tottenham confirmed that Vicario decided to have the procedure done now in order to minimise the impact on his availability at club level.
The decision to skip the play-offs was understandable given that Manchester City’s Gianluigi Donnarumma is expected to start in both matches, assuming that Italy get past Northern Ireland in the semi-final.
However, it does come as a slight surprise to see vicario still in the starting line-up for Tottenham’s Premier League relegation clash against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, given that he is due to have an operation in the coming days.