Simone Pafundi’s latest call-up to the Italian national team has been a hot topic of discussion of late, especially after not making the final squad for their recent UEFA EURO 2024 qualifiers. Andrea Carnevale was a special guest on Udinese Tonight on Monday and shared his thoughts on the teenager. “I’m happy for Simone because getting an international call-up having just turned 17 is not something you see every day. I want to thank coach Roberto Mancini for that. Just think, I received my first call-up at the age of 29.
“Pafundi has been with us at Udinese for a number of seasons now and we decided to put him under contract at the age of 16 because it’s an investment for us. We really believe in him.
“There are several steps he needs to take, but he must be patient and calm because he has time to flourish. We’ve seen great progress since he started training with the first team. I’m sure he’ll get the chance to show what he can do in the coming games because Andrea Sottil holds him in high esteem.”
Discussion then turned to Udinese’s success just before the international break. “We’ve rediscovered our form from the start of the season. When Gerard Deulofeu got injured, the team lost a little bit of faith. I hope that we can pick up from where we left off when we play Bologna.”