England has been facing more and more criticism over the fact that the Premier League is so overpopulated with foreign players that young English players don’t have the opportunity to grow adequately. Italy seems to be under fire for the same sort of situation, with such a lack of talented Italian football players.
In recent times the Azzuri have been less than impressive. Their qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup finals was hardly impressive, relying on a last gasp equaliser in Ireland to put them into the finals after a series of unimpressive drawn games. Italy’s at the finals continued to dissatisfy fans, especially while playing Paraguay and New Zealand.
Despite Italy’s strong reputation for defense, their lack of imagination in attack was painful. They missed the guile of Andrea Pirlo, they missed the threat of a player of the calibre of Francesco Totti and an in form Luca Toni and what is more, they may well struggle to find adequate long term replacements for all these players to put in the latest soccer jersey.Inter Milan won both Serie A and Coppa Italia in 2010 prior to lifting the European Champions Leauge with a 2-0 game, beating out Bayern Munich in Madrid. Disappointingly, Inter failed to contribute any players to the World Cup Squad for Italy. For the majority of the season, Inter’s first team rarely held an Italian player. Only youngsters Davide Santon and Mario Balotelli made a lasting contribution and they were used mainly from the substitutes bench and neither made the final squad for the summer’s showpiece event in South Africa.
If we look to the rest of Serie A, it becomes apparent that the giants of the league are facing the same conundrum. Even though AC Milan boasts a higher percentage of Italians in their first squad, most of the players are nearly or over thirty. The picture is a little brighter at Juventus, but the team is only saved by Chiellni, Giovinco and De Ceglie rising up to support the phenomenal Marchisio in the midfield. A large amount of Juventus Italian nationals, and especially those that are first team caliber, are all above thirty.
In recent times, players on the Italian national team are less likely to come from the top few teams in Serie A, and players are instead being chosen from the groups which rank just below this group. The current Italian World Cup squad boasts 6 players from Juventus (3 under the age of 30), 3 from Milan (0 under 30), one from Roma, but contains 3 players from Napoli, 2 from Sampdoria, 2 from Genoa, 2 from Fiorentina, one each from Bari, Cagliari and Udinese, plus one from Al Ahli from the UAE (Fabio Cannavaro).
The trend is not stopping anytime soon, thanks to the ages of top players this may become a worry for both Azzuri managers and the Italian FA alike. Many of these Italian players are now not playing in the Champions League each season and that will have an impact on their abilities to perform against the very best.
Italy does have hope for the future, with players like Domenico Criscito, Salvatore Bocchetti, Giampaolo Pazzini, and Leonardo Bonucci as up and coming players. Sadly, though, these players are likely to gain their football education not on the pitches of Old Trafford, Allianz Arena, Bernebeu and Nou Camp but on those of Palermo, Bari, Cagliari, and Lazio.
The shift is a nuisance to the Italian side and a change that needs to be addressed. Can a champions be said to be truly champions of a country, when it contains no nationals from that country and contributes no players to the national cause?
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