Summary:
The World Cup is about to begin but already there are doubts over the fitness of one of the tournament's key players.

Full article:
By . Matt Barlow . Follow @@Matt_Barlow_DM . Marco Verratti has missed another Italy training session fuelling concerns that Italy’s influential midfielder will not be fit to face England. Verratti, who is being linked with a transfer from Paris St Germain to Real Madrid, has not trained for three days and missed the practice match against Fluminense on Sunday, when Italy won 5-3. He is a key element of the midfield shape preferred by Cesara Prandelli and increasingly influential in the way Italy want to approach the game against England in Manuas on Saturday. Doubt: Italy midfielder Marco Verratti has sat out another training session . Out? He may not be available to face England on Saturday . They believe ball possession will be the key in the Amazon rainforest against a team who prefer to play a physical style and 21-year-old Verratti’s highly technical skills are made for this. It will be a blow to Prandelli if he is not considered strong enough to play, or even travel north to the Amazon region. Italy are set to start their World Cup campaign against the Three Lion's on Saturday, before rounding off their Group D campaign with games against Costa Rica and Uruguay. Young star: The 21-year-old in action for Italy in a recent warm-up game against Luxembourg .