Rolando Mandragora admits he cried when Crotone were relegated, is yet to decide his Juventus future and will take his time growing for Italy.
The midfielder is one of several players promoted to the senior squad from the Under-21s by new Coach Roberto Mancini for friendlies against Saudi Arabia, France and the Netherlands.
“It is always a pleasure to wear the Azzurri jersey, even more so now that it is my first senior call-up,” said the 20-year-old in his Press conference.
Rolando Mandragora admits he cried when Crotone were relegated, is yet to decide his Juventus future and will take his time growing for Italy.
The midfielder is one of several players promoted to the senior squad from the Under-21s by new Coach Roberto Mancini for friendlies against Saudi Arabia, France and the Netherlands.
“It is always a pleasure to wear the Azzurri jersey, even more so now that it is my first senior call-up,” said the 20-year-old in his Press conference.
“This is a dream come true for me, but I know that I have to keep earning it. Mancini is the right man to rebuild, as he likes spending time with the players and passing on his ideas, even if we don’t have much time in training.
“If it was up to us, we’d like to be successful straight away, but we know there’s a natural growth process that is necessary. Hopefully, we can get the Italian people celebrating again.
“I would love to be like Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi or Claudio Marchisio, but I don’t have a specific role model. I just try to take the best parts from all of my favourite midfielders and improve my own game.”
Mandragora is owned by Juventus, but was on loan at Crotone and unable to prevent their relegation.
“I cried at the relegation. I don’t think the city, fans or club deserved to go into Serie B. Of course, I learned so much in my time there.
“As for the future, I’ll talk to Juventus and see what the best course of action will be to help me grow. I hope this season was the turning point for me, as last year I was out for most of it with injury, but I got to play regularly for Crotone.”
As Mandragora is from Naples, he was asked if a move to the Stadio San Paolo was an option.
“I am from Naples, but I don’t support Napoli. I left when I was 14 years old.”