West Ham fullback Emerson Palmieri has been given a surprise call up by Italy manager Roberto Mancini.

The 28-year-old was not in the original squad for the European Championship qualifiers this week against England and Malta, but an injury to Inter Milan’s Federico Dimarco led to him being brought back into the fold.

Emerson has been out in the cold on the international stage recently. That is mainly down to the fact he hasn’t been getting regular game time since he made the £13m move from Chelsea to the London Stadium at the start of the season.

However, the Italian has begun to feature more often in recent weeks, with manager David Moyes selecting him in the first eleven over the course of the last couple of months.

After starting just five times before the New Year, Emerson has now started nine of the last eleven matches in all competitions, including the draw against Aston Villa last time out.