In a surprise turn of events, Italy are set to miss their third World Cup in a row after losing to Bosnia & Herzegovina this evening.
Despite being four-time world champions, Italy haven’t featured at the World Cup finals since 2014 in Brazil.
Back then they crashed out in the group stages, repeating their performance from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Now, the spiralling of the Italian national team has continued, this time within touching distance of qualification.
Despite instantly coming under attack from the Bosnian side, Italy opened the scoring in the 15th minute thanks to Fiorentina’s Moise Kean, hoping to secure an early lead to carry the game.
However, Bosnia and Herzegovina weren’t backing down, with Gianluigi Donnarumma being routinely called into action to keep his side ahead.
Then, just before half-time, the fate of the game shifted as Alessandro Bastoni was sent off for taking out Amar Memic as he broke through the Italian defence.
Although Italy kept their lead after being reduced to ten men, the home side kept attacking, finally being rewarded for their efforts with a goal from Haris Tabakovic in the 79th minute after being on the pitch for only eight minutes.
Now drawing, Tabakovic had pushed the game into extra-time, with no winner to be found, pushing it to penalties.
Unfortunately for Italy, they just fell apart. Francesco Esposito missed their first, before Sandro Tonali converted from the spot.
However, with Bosnia scoring all of their penalties, Bryan Cristante’s miss saw them crash out of the game.
Whilst this is absolutely devastating for Italy and their fans, this could well be a massive boost for Manchester United, and this is why.
Manchester United’s interest in Sandro Tonali
Since the winter transfer window, Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali has become a major name on The Red Devils’ shortlist, with the club looking to him as a successor to Casemiro.
Over the weekend, CentreDevils revealed that United have in fact opened talks with the 25-year-old’s representatives through an intermediary.
While Newcastle’s, at the time, record signing, is keen to concentrate on the rest of the season with the Magpies, he’s also open to an Old Trafford move.
As such, he now looks to be the most likely arrival in the summer, with Italy’s defeat tonight set to benefit the move in two ways.
Firstly, if Tonali had gone to the World Cup in the summer and impressed as he has in these last two games, more eyes would have been on him.
Against Northern Ireland, he scored Italy’s first and set up Moise Kean for the second in their 2-0 win.
Tonight, he was the only one to convert from the spot, showing he can be relied upon when it matters.
However, if he’d have performed like this at the World Cup, not only would United have been up against further interested parties, but his asking price could well have rocketed.
A strong World Cup showing turns unknowns into “ones to watch” and “the next big thing”, and with Tonali already valued at around £70 million, that could have shot up.
The other positive is that United might be able to sign him sooner now.
When a World Cup comes, those headed on international duty have their sole focus on the tournament and helping their country win.
As such, transfer talks and contract negotiations get kicked down the line until after the players return.
Now, with Italy not heading to North America this summer, that’s no longer an issue.
Ultimately, Italy’s misfortune looks set to help United have a clean run at one of the top midfielders in the Premier League with no distractions and no post-World Cup price tag.