The prolific writing team of Football Italia, a prominent Italian daily, excluded Super Eagles forwards Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen from their new Ideal Serie A XI for the 2023–24 campaign.
In spite of Napoli’s lacklustre season—they finished in 10th place and were unable to retain their Serie A title—Osimhen has scored 17 goals and given four assists in 32 appearances during the 2023–24 campaign.
On the other side, Lookman has been the standout player of the Atalanta season. In addition to his incredible hat-trick, which propelled La Dea (The Goddess) to a historic Europa League Cup after a 3-0 thumping of Bayer Leverkusen in the final last Wednesday, the 26-year-old is also recognised with 10 goals in the Serie A.
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However, the Football Italia team of experts, which comprised Peter Young, Lorenzo Bettoni, Apollo Heyes, and Susy Campanale, overlooked both Nigerian internationals.
Meanwhile, the quartet supposedly selected players from Bologna and Atalanta in their ideal starting lineups, including Riccardo Calafiori and Teun Koopmeiners, Gleison Bremer of Juventus, and Albert Gudmundsson of Genoa.
“Most of these players were also selected by Opta in their Best Serie A XI for 2023-24 based on stats,” the Football Italia editors wrote in their editorial. “But notable names were omitted as well, such as Juventus’ forward Dusan Vlahovic, the second-best league scorer this season, and Italy star Gianluca Scamacca.”
However, many Nigerian football fans would be surprised by Osimhen and Lookman’s exclusion.
Ideal XI for Serie A in 2023–24 selected by Football Italia writers
Susy:(3-5-2) – Sommer; Gudmundsson, Lautaro Martinez; Pulisic, Ferguson, Calhanoglu, Koopmeiners, Calafiori; Kolasinac, Vasquez, Calafiori.
Apollo: (3-5-2): Di Gregorio; Gudmundsson, Lautaro; Bellanova, Koopmeiners, Calhanoglu, Ferguson, Dimarco; Bastoni, Calafiori, Bremer.
Peter: (3-4-3) – Dybala, Lautaro M., Leao; Bremer, Bastoni, Calafiori; Bellanova, Calhanoglu, Koopmeiners, Dimarco.
Lorenzo: (3-4-1-2) – Sommer; Gudmundsson; Lautaro, Zirkzee; Pulisic, Calhanoglu, Koopmeiners, Dimarco; Bremer, Calafiori, Bastoni
