Gianluigi Donnarumma has postponed his college exams by a month after being named in the Italy under-21 squad for the European Championship in Poland this summer.
The AC Milan goalkeeper becomes the second Italian player to make the decision after 18-year-old Spezia midfielder Giulio Maggiore turned down a place at the U20 World Cup in South Korea in order to sit exams.
It had previously been reported that the AC Milan goalkeeper would turn down an invitation to be part of the squad so that he could instead sit his college exams this month, but the 18-year-old's name was included in the squad named by coach Luigi Di Biagio on Tuesday evening.
❗️ Here's the squad that #DiBiagio is taking to Poland for the #Under21 European Championship ���� ! �� https://t.co/fSYAwAkoIW#Azzurrini ���� pic.twitter.com/5XlNa2F9Fv
- Italy (@azzurri) June 6, 2017
He is set to be the first-choice goalkeeper in Poland, ahead of Udinese's Simone Scuffet, who played frequently in qualifying, and Alessio Cragno of Benevento, who will be seeking promotion to Serie A via the playoffs on Thursday night.
Donnarumma, whose future remains unclear as he has yet to commit to a new contract with Milan, while many of Europe's top clubs are said to be keeping a close eye on developments, is not the only player already capped by the Italy senior side to be included in a strong Azzurrine squad.
Fiorentina's Federico Bernardeschi, who was part of the Italy squad at Euro 2016, is also included, together with his teammate Federico Chiesa. Juventus defender Daniele Rugani makes the cut too, as are Inter Milan's Roberto Gagliardini and Domenico Berardi of Sassuolo, who have also already picked up their first caps for the Squadra Azzurra.
Donnarumma, Scuffet, Bernardeschi, Berardi, Andrea Conti and Lorenzo Pellegrini will all join the U21 squad five days later than their teammates since they are currently on duty with the senior Italy squad in a friendly with Uruguay on Wednesday night and a World Cup qualifier against Liechtenstein on Sunday.
Luigi Di Biagio's squad will meet on Wednesday and play a friendly on Friday before departing for Krakow on Thursday, June 15. Their first game at the European Championship is against Denmark in Krakow on June 18, before they face Czech Republic and Germany.