Italy coach Marcello Lippi will blood a new young striker in Saturday's World Cup qualifier in Bulgaria, the Italian pundits believe.
With Juventus icon Alessandro Del Piero dropped and clubmate Mauro Camoranesi injured, a place on the right side of the attack has opened up.
Pundits said Thursday it would go either to Villareal striker Giuseppe Rossi, 21, or Udinese winger Simone Pepe, 25.
Rossi, who was at Manchester United from 2005 until last year but got little playing time, has grown in stature at Villareal which finished second in La Liga last year.
The youngster, who comes from an Italian-American family, impressed Lippi at the Beijing Olympics.
''He's an important player,'' Lippi told a press conference.
In a three-man attack, Rossi would play alongside Fiorentina's Alberto Gilardino in the middle - tipped to get the nod over struggling Luca Toni - and Udinese's Antonio Di Natale on the left.
But other experts think Lippi may have been stung by the over-adventurous approach that was badly exposed in a lucky 2-1 win in Cyprus on September 6 where Italy's blushes were spared by two-goal Di Natale.
Italy picked up the pace a little in a September 10 2-0 home win against Georgia, with Roma's Daniele Di Rossi the two-goal hero this time, but Lippi is still believed to be rethinking his all-out attacking strategy - especially against a more dangerous opponent like Bulgaria.
According to this argument, a better choice for the right-hand slot would be Di Natale's clubmate at Udinese, Simone Pepe, who offers more cover.
Pepe, 25, is known for his ''boundless'' energy in tracking back once the ball is lost, La Gazzetta dello Sport said Thursday.
In other enforced changes, Palermo goalkeeper Marco Amelia comes in for injured Juve goalie Gianluigi Buffon.
Bulgaria star Dimitar Berbatov, now at Man Utd after goal-studded spells at CSKA Sofia, Bayer Leverkusen and Tottenham Hotspur, candidly admitted Thursday that ''we're lucky Buffon isn't playing''.
Berbatov will link up with Manchester City winger Martin Petrov, whose clubmate and fellow striker Valeri Bojinov is out injured.
Bulgaria, which drew 2-2 in its opening qualifier in Montenegro last month, are keen to avoid defeat against Italy and also against Georgia next Wednesday - when Italy host Montenegro.
Italy is top of the Group Eight standings with 6 points, followed by Ireland with 4, Montenegro with 2, Bulgaria with 1 and Cyprus and Georgia with 0.
