Mancini’s New Italy Targets Mohamed Ali Zoma for Nations League

Roberto Mancini is back in charge of Italy and, even before his first squad is announced, one name keeps surfacing: Mohamed Ali Zoma.

The 22-year-old 1. FC Nürnberg winger, born and raised in Merate, is rapidly moving from curiosity to near-certainty for an Azzurri call-up ahead of an unusually long Nations League window in September and October.

Italy face Belgium, Turkiye, France and Turkiye again across a two-week stretch that will test both depth and direction. It is Mancini’s first assignment since returning to replace Gennaro Gattuso as CT in the summer, and the expectation is clear: this will not be a continuity squad.

Italy are still licking their wounds after a disastrous calendar year that ended with the Azzurri missing out on the 2026 World Cup. That failure has blown open the doors for change. Older certainties are under scrutiny, and the search for new energy, new profiles and new motivations has become non-negotiable.

Zoma fits that brief almost too perfectly.

A left-footed winger who can attack from wide or drift inside, he carries not only form but also a decision to make. Through his parents, he remains eligible for Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast, and the clock is ticking for Italy to secure him before another federation makes the decisive move.

His route to this moment has been anything but glamorous. Zoma came through at AlbinoLeffe, grinding his way through youth and senior football in Serie C before taking a calculated risk last summer: a move to Germany and the 2. Bundesliga with Nürnberg in a €1.5m deal.

It has proved inspired.

Last season he exploded with 19 goal involvements – 14 goals and five assists – in just 29 league appearances. This campaign, he has started even faster, scoring five times in his first five 2. Bundesliga matches of 2026-27. Those numbers, combined with his pace and directness, have inevitably drawn attention.

Interest arrived late in the summer transfer window. According to Sky Sport DE’s Florian Plettenberg, clubs came calling, but Nürnberg refused to budge. They have set their valuation at around €20m and made it clear they see Zoma as central to their project.

The player himself has not tried to hide the national-team conversation. Speaking to Sky, he confirmed direct contact with Mancini: “It’s true, Roberto Mancini and I have spoken. He said that he is keeping an eye on me and that I should keep going like this, and then we’ll see.”

That “we’ll see” is quickly hardening into expectation. Tuttosport reports that an Italy call-up is “increasingly close” for the winger, while TMW goes further, predicting that Zoma will be named in Mancini’s next squad.

For Italy, this is about more than one in-form winger. It is about resetting an identity and making sure that dual-national talents no longer slip away. For Zoma, it is the chance to turn a breakout season in Germany into a defining decision about his international future.

The squad list will tell its own story. And if Mancini is serious about a new era, Mohamed Ali Zoma’s name is likely to be right at the heart of it.