Ivan Juric was not best pleased with Roberto Mancini’s decision to call up Eddy Kouadio to the Italy national team squad, only to leave him out of all four Nations League matches during the international break, labelling it a ‘waste of time’ and suggesting that the youngster would have been better off staying with Monza.

Kouadio was one of the surprise inclusions when Mancini named a squad of 34 players ahead of the extra-long international break, which saw Italy take on Belgium, Turkiye, France and Turkiye again in the new Nations League campaign.

The 20-year-old has just eight Serie A appearances to his name across his career and hadn’t even played for the Italy U21s before earning his first call-up to the senior squad.

There had been suggestions that Mancini was looking to hand Kouadio his first cap in a competitive fixture to tie him down for playing for Italy at senior level, given that he holds dual citizenship and remains eligible for the Ivory Coast.

That was also the case for Mohamed Ali Zoma, whose parents are of Ivorian and Burkinabe descent, and was handed his first cap off the bench against Belgium in September.

However, unlike Zoma, Kouadio was not given the opportunity to play under Mancini during the September-October international break. In fact, he was not included in the matchday squad for any of Italy’s four Nations League matches during the break, which has left Monza head coach Juric rather frustrated.

“For me, it was a waste of time,” Juric declared in his pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of Monza’s trip to Lazio.

“Ok, he got the call-up, he was there with them, but it’s two and a half weeks of work where we could have used him better. It was obviously a great thing for him to be up close with the national team, but I would have for him to stay with us if he wasn’t going to play.”