Juventus Faces Sassuolo with Only One Italian Player

Three weeks into the 2026-27 Serie A season and one debate refuses to go away: where have all the Italians gone?

Lineups across the league are filling up with foreign talent, and some of the biggest clubs are leaning heavily into that trend. The most striking example so far has been Como, the billionaire-backed fairy tale that has already sent out starting XIs with no Italians at all on multiple occasions.

Juventus are not quite at that extreme. Not yet. But they are edging closer than anyone in Turin ever imagined.

On Sunday night at the Mapei Stadium against Sassuolo, Luciano Spalletti is expected to name a starting lineup with just one Italian player. One. For Italy’s most decorated club, that is a jarring number.

That lone Azzurro? Guglielmo Vicario.

The goalkeeper, only a few weeks into his Juventus career, looks set to be the solitary Italian presence in Spalletti’s XI, barring a late tactical twist. The Tuscan coach’s hand has been forced by a brutal run of injuries ripping through the squad and stripping away what little domestic core remained.

Manuel Locatelli is out long term, his season effectively over before it ever really started after meniscus surgery that will sideline him until 2027. Andrea Cambiaso has been missing since the opening game of the campaign. Federico Gatti, the Italian defender who turned hero late on against AC Milan last weekend, is still expected to begin on the bench, behind Gleison Bremer and Jhon Lucumí in the pecking order.

The result: Vicario left almost alone to carry the Italian flag.

If the predicted lineup holds, it will be the first time since February 2023 that Juventus start a match with just one Italian on the pitch. Back then it felt unusual. Now it feels like the logical conclusion of a trend that has been building quietly in the background.

The first three games of this season already hinted at the shift. Gatti has been reduced to backup duty, watching on as Bremer and Lucumí lock down the central defensive roles. Cambiaso’s injury opened the door at left back, and Zeki Çelik has walked straight through it, starting all three matches so far. Up front, Jeff Ekhator — one of the brighter Italian attacking prospects in the squad — has been sidelined for most of preseason and is not expected back for a couple of months.

Piece by piece, the Italian spine has been stripped away.

Only Vicario and Locatelli had managed to cling to starting roles through the opening weeks. Now Locatelli is gone, his absence stretching into next year, and Juventus are left with a single Italian in the XI, and a relatively new one at that.

That is what makes the picture even more striking. The only Italian likely to start in black and white on Sunday is a player who was not even on the club’s books a couple of months ago. Vicario has thrown himself into the job, embraced the club, and already looks every inch the committed Juventino. He understands the weight of the shirt, the expectations that come with being both Italian and the No. 1 at Juventus.

But he has logged barely 270 minutes in Turin colors.

For a club that has long seen itself as a pillar of Italian football, a reference point for the national team and a symbol of domestic identity, walking out with just one Italian starter — and a brand-new one — feels like a line being crossed.

On Sunday night at the Mapei, the scoreboard will tell one story. The team sheet might tell an even louder one about where Juventus, and Serie A, are heading.