Calò Named Serie A Player of the Month for October After Italy Snub

What happened

Frosinone midfielder Giacomo Calò has been named Serie A player of the month for October, Football Italia reported, an award that came after he was left out of Italy's squad for November fixtures against France and Belgium. The recognition followed a run of scoring form from midfield that the report says has continued into November.

Report details

Calò scored three goals in four league appearances during October, finding the net in three consecutive games late in the month against Sassuolo, Atalanta and Lecce, according to the report. He then scored again against Torino on November 1 for a fourth straight game, taking his tally for the 2026-27 season to five goals in 11 top-flight appearances. The October prize was decided ahead of Como's Anastasios Douvikas, Lazio's Gustav Isaksen, Atalanta's Nikola Krstovic, Napoli's Scott McTominay and Inter's Marcus Thuram. Calò is the second winner of the 2026-27 season, after Roma's Donyell Malen took the award covering August and September.

Despite that form, the 29-year-old was not called up by Italy coach Roberto Mancini for the November matches. His agent criticised the omission, accusing Mancini of a lack of logic in his selections and saying he hoped the decision was not "the death of meritocracy." Mancini responded by saying the camp was not the right setting to test uncapped players aged 29 or 30, and that he instead wanted to give opportunities to younger midfielders including Alessandro Romano, Issa Doumbia and Niccolo Pisilli. He described Calò as one of the players doing well and said Frosinone have three or four good players, but argued the national team could not call players who are already 29 or 30 at that moment. Mancini said Italy would call such players when needed, but not because an agent demands it, adding that the priority was finding different solutions and helping young players gain experience.