Gianluca Mancini’s likely return to the centre of Italy’s defence offers him an immediate chance to answer the difficult evening against Belgium in the opening match of this Nations League window. It was not a convincing performance, either for the defender or for the Azzurri, but Mancini has built his career around responding to such moments.
The coach and the club
His renewed place in the national set-up has been earned through his own work, but Gian Piero Gasperini has also played an important part. The Roma coach first gave Mancini a major opportunity during their time together at Atalanta and has since reshaped him again in the capital.
Mancini is among Gasperini’s most trusted players at Roma. Their connection was a significant factor in the defender deciding to extend his contract until 2029 rather than move to Inter. The previous season strengthened that bond, beginning with a frank discussion between coach and player.
Speaking at the Festival dello Sport in Trento, Gasperini explained that he had challenged Mancini over his lack of a sustained role with Italy. “I told him it could not be right that, after so many years, he had not been in the national team consistently,” the coach said. “That probably came down to certain behaviours that did not help him.”
The issue was not Mancini’s commitment or defensive ability. It was the confrontations that too often came with his game: provocations, excessive complaints, and face-to-face arguments with opponents. Those episodes made him a divisive figure among rivals and sections of the public, while also taking attention away from his football.
Gasperini urged him to change that side of his game as soon as he arrived at Trigoria. The outcome, in the coach’s view, was clear: “Gianluca had a fantastic season. People started talking about him again principally as a player: he scored important goals and returned to the national team.”
A different kind of discipline
The contrast with Mancini’s earlier years at Roma is marked. Under José Mourinho, he finished the 2021/22 campaign as the most booked defender across Europe’s leading leagues, collecting 21 yellow cards in 46 appearances. Many came through dissent or direct clashes rather than the demands of defending itself.
Mancini has acknowledged that he needed to improve. “I realised that certain reactions were taking me away from the match, and gradually I learned to control them,” he said.
There are still bookings. Last season he received 12 yellow cards under Gasperini, six more than the eight registered in the preceding campaign. But their character has changed. They now tend to result from footballing interventions rather than protests, fights or attempts to provoke an opponent.
His role also helps explain why disciplinary action remains part of the picture. Operating as a wide centre-back, Mancini is often asked to step forward and attack space when Roma have possession. That can leave him required to recover at speed or defend in open areas, situations in which a tactical foul can become necessary.
The wider change is psychological as much as tactical. Gasperini has repeatedly encouraged Mancini to stay within the match, to avoid distractions and keep his focus on the next defensive action. That work has allowed the defender’s qualities to come back to the foreground: decisive goals, international recognition and a place once again in Italy’s plans.
Against Belgium, the central-defensive shirt could therefore become another chapter in that process. Mancini’s task is not merely to erase the memory of the first meeting, but to show the calmer, more complete version of himself that Roma have helped bring forward.
