Atalanta striker Andrea Petagna deserves his call-up for Italy, says his agent.

Petagna earned his first Italy call-up at the weekend as a replacement for the injured Manolo Gabbiadini, of Southampton.

“Many clubs after Petagna? He's already made me start working! I was hoping to rest, but no," Giuseppe Riso told Premium Sport.

“He has unique characteristics, he could play in any League. He has a physical structure that means he needs to play in order to grow.

“We'll make all the necessary evaluations with the President Percassi, but Petagna has a lot of quality, so much so that I can't predict how far he'll go.

“Only a few goals scored? Many strong strikers like Ibrahimovic and Mandzukic in their early career were not clinical or great goalscorers,

“It's his first year as a starter in Serie A and he still has plenty of room for improvement.

“If he had scored as many goals as he has putting in the dirty work, he'd already be a top player, but for now he has the potential to become one of the best strikers around."