Michael Kayode could potentially be Italy’s most valuable ever player at the time of their national team debut, but the Brentford right-back is still not expected to start against Belgium in the Nations League on Friday night.

Kayode is one of the most valuable players in the Italy national team squad, currently rated at the €40m mark by transfermarkt.co.uk , which is only bettered by established squad members in Sandro Tonali, Alessandro Bastoni, Riccardo Calafiori, Nicolo Barella, Pio Esposito and Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Kayode, however, is still waiting for his first appearance for the senior Italy side, despite his impressive performances in the Premier League with Brentford over the last 12 months.

The former Fiorentina full-back, 22, has 10 caps for the Italy U21s side, but hadn’t even been called up to the senior squad before September, let alone given his debut.

With his current €40m valuation, Kayode would become the second-most valuable Italian player ever at the time of their national team debut if he were to feature against Belgium on Friday.

Only Alessandro Bastoni, who was valued at €45m at the time of his Nazionale debut in 2020, was worth more on the date of their first Italy cap.

There had been hope from many supporters that Kayode would be brought in for his full Italy debut against Belgium on Friday night, especially given that Chelsea’s Marco Palestra has been left at home due to injury, however, according to practically every major outlet in Italy on Thursday, Kayode is unlikely to be thrown into Mancini’s starting line-up .

Instead, the likes of La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Corriere dello Sport, Sky Sport Italia and numerous others predict that Giovanni Di Lorenzo will start at right-back in a back four.