Udinese midfielder Nicolò Zaniolo has not reported for pre-season training at the Bruseschi centre under coach Kosta Runjaić, creating fresh tension at the club just days after both parties had announced a contract renewal they described as definitive.
The timing is pointed. An agreement had been reached on 8 July, with the two sides confirming they had found terms for Zaniolo to remain in Friuli. The following day, Udinese technical director Gokhan Inler went further, stating publicly that the 27-year-old would stay and characterising him as a player who carries internal pressure well — someone with, in Inler's words, "il fuoco dentro." That language was meant to close the chapter. Zaniolo's absence from the training pitch suggests it has not.
What makes this complicated is that Juventus had been circling. A summit between Milan and Udinese also produced enquiries about Zaniolo alongside other Friulani players, signalling that external interest has not evaporated simply because a renewal was announced. Contract agreements and actual departures are not the same thing in July, and Udinese know this better than most clubs.
The on-field case for keeping Zaniolo is coherent. Across 32 Serie A appearances in 2025-26, he contributed five goals and six assists — eleven direct involvements in a side that finished tenth with 45 goals scored across 37 matches. Udinese's attacking output was modest, and Zaniolo's share of it was meaningful. His average rating of 6.80 across those appearances reflects a player who was consistently functional rather than intermittently brilliant, which is precisely what a mid-table club needs from its most technically gifted asset.
The AI assessment — an overall score of 75 with a potential ceiling of 82 — frames the broader question neatly. Zaniolo is not yet the player his early career suggested he might become, but the gap between current output and projected ceiling is still worth chasing. Whether he chases it at Udinese or elsewhere is the question his absence from Bruseschi has put back on the table.
Runjaić's side finished the season with fifteen defeats and a negative goal difference, which means the squad needs additions, not subtractions. Losing Zaniolo — or even managing a prolonged standoff through pre-season — would complicate the technical director's summer considerably. Inler's public confidence may reflect genuine conviction, or it may be the kind of statement designed to stabilise a situation that is less stable than it appears.
Zaniolo has until the season begins to decide where his ambitions actually lie. If the answer is Udinese, he needs to be on the training pitch.