Browha, how many of our primavera graduates have been at Inter youth systems for more than 5 years?
I noticed a lot of our graduates are scouted when they're already past the age we focus on technical skills. which suggests we do a decent job at finding talent, it's developing talent where we're lacking. i cant find any info on transfermarkt on our current primavera crop though, but im looking at benassi (17), puscas (17), bessa (15), longo (17), santon (14), crisetig (14), garritano (14), mbaye (16), duncan (17), obi (14), krhin (17), donkor (15), destro (14), donati (18), bonucci (18), balotelli (17)
what do you think? is it a problem with the academy or does italy just have a low amount of u14 youth players per capita? I also notice that most of the youth players that succeed here arent from lombardy (with a few exceptions here and there), vs atalanta, for example (who are in the area and have locals like bonaventura, consigli, gabbiadini from youth teams doing well in the league) - we only have caldirola off the top of my head (who came here aged 8). tho giovinco, marrone, marchisio all arrived at juve aged 8/9, so...
i feel its a little bit of both, with lombardy in particular possessing a low amount of very young youth players per capita. in other words, perhaps people usually join an academy when they're a bit older?
barcelona, for example, has a lot of continuity in their youth sides. fabregas, messi, pique etc all playing together for years (from the u11 to the b side) before they even got a shot in the first team. got to think la masia's systematic production of class players isnt just a coincidence (and that generation is no exception), a combination of the
sheer numbers of youth players in catalonia (most youth players per capita IN THE WORLD) and their coaching methods. the former is also a characteristic of roma's youth sides. they have usually recruited from a fuckload of amateur clubs in roma (why the majority of the italian players in their primavera have been roman iirc), see aquilani, ddr, totti, cerci, florenzi, romagnoli etc
can you think of any possible solutions as well? ive got the feeling that kind of continuity in ouryouth system is impossible in lombardy, because there arent enough good youth players at that age, and scouting the best players that young in italy would cost too much (considering the risk).
dont italians usually start enrolling in teams later, especially in the north (mainly because its more affluent)? i find that poorer cities tend to have more youth football players (torino, napoli/sorrento, roma, etc). if so, maybe inter could do something to encourage grassroots football?
leave some thoughts, because im quite curious how you think the system is doing atm, and where we can possibly improve to become that much better.
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edit; all our primavera players by age recruited that i could find ->
bonazzoli (7 years old
, from lombardy), camara (17), ventre (17), delgado (16), steffe (16)
couldnt find ages of palazzi, di marco, de giovana, lomolino, di stefano, sciacca, di gregorio, palmieri, but theyre ALL from milan (with some from lombardy area) as well :notbad: (shit, maybe my post was fucken premature as hell - but what changed? how come all these milanese players start emerging now? what have we done)
to summarize this fucken incoherent post into a few questions:
1. what changed in the fact we have a lot more milanese players in the youth systems (what created more continuity)? And why are the vast majority of them defenders?
2. do we have a coherent philosophy tactical philosophy throughout? Similar formations, training exercises through the entire system like bayern+barca?
3. what method do you think would be most effective in producing good players? grassroots football (having players spend 10 years in the youth system), getting the best foreign youth talent (like roma has done recently), or scouting italy for the best talents? And for the last two options, in what age groups?
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