Marchisio slams ‘truly alarming’ Italian youth development

Former Juventus and Italy midfielder Claudio Marchisio has criticised the ‘truly alarming’ lack of development of young Italian players by Serie A clubs – stating the need to implement rules to help prevent an over-reliance on foreign youngsters.

Speaking in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, via TMW, Marchisio said “I now run an agency as a football agent and the data we have on the use of Italian players is truly alarming. Two or three years ago the Primavera was won by a team that didn’t have a single Italian player on the pitch. And only 2% of those non-european youngsters went on to play professionally.

“The rules state that foreign players can arrive after the under-16 level. From that point onwards, you see very few Italian or even European players in the youth teams.”

Marchisio wants new rules to allow young Italians to flourish
Marchisio also provided a recommendation as to how he would protect the interests of Italian youth players, as well as preventing the exploitation of youngsters from poorer countries: “There’s also a significant economic exploitation of teenagers from the poorer parts of the world.