It has often been stated that one of the main problems England face is that the Premier League is populated by so many foreign players that this hinders the progress of England’s top stars and in particular the youngsters, in the Premier League. Italy seems to be under fire for the same sort of situation, with such a lack of talented Italian football players.
The Azzuri has been playing rather poorly in recent times. 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. At the finals, the Italians also failed to impress, especially in their first two games against Paraguay and New Zealand.
Italy was hurt by their lack of ingenuity in attack, despite their renowned defensive abilities. Italy felt a loss of Pirlo’s unmistakable guile, Totti’s technique, and Toni’s form, and will moreover struggle to find stars to put in the Italy soccer apparel. Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan were the Serie A and Coppa Italia winners of 2010 before they went on to lift the European Champions League with a 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich in Madrid. However despite this glorious season, Inter did not contribute a single player to the Italian World Cup squad. Inter’s first team hardly ever contained an Italian player for most of the season. Even though Mario Balotelli and Davide Santon made a lasting impression on the team, they were mainly used in substitutions and both players missed out on being called to the final squad in South Africa.
A quick scout through the Serie A giants reveals a worrying trend. Even though AC Milan boasts a higher percentage of Italians in their first squad, most of the players are nearly or over thirty. It’s a slightly rosier picture at Juventus, but only just thanks to the likes of Chiellini, Giovinco and De Ceglie coming through the ranks to supplement the impressive Marchisio in midfield. The vast majority of Juventus Italian nationals, certainly those who would be considered for the first team, are also 30+.
More and more, the majority of the players on the Italian national team are not coming out of the top four to five teams from Serie A, but instead from the teams which sit just outside of this elite crew. 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 tendency against national players is one that is unlikely to stop soon, which may become a torment to the Italian FA as well as future Azzuri team managers. A great many Italian players are declining participation in the Champions League each season, a fact that hurts Italian players’ performance against the competition.
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 Italian side needs to begin worrying about the state of their leagues. Can the heroes of a country really be considered heroes if they don’t have their hearts in a national cause?
