AC Milan youngster Davide Bartesaghi has hinted at collective frustration over how hard it is for young Italian players to break into senior teams compared to others in Europe.
Bartesaghi spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport ahead of the Italy U19s European Championship semi-final against Spain and it was put to him that it must be unusual to see players of a younger or similar age like Lamine Yamal and Kobbie Mainoo competing in the final of the senior European Championship earlier this month.
Bartesaghi’s response was telling about the lack of faith in youth players shown by most Italian clubs and even the national team setup: “They may be great talents, but we have them in Italy too. But they give them the chance to play…”
Bartesaghi made his senior debut for Milan last season under Stefano Pioli but soon returned to the youth setup once other injured defenders started to return.
There are five players from Milan in the current Italy U19 squad and Bartesaghi admitted that this does help with the understanding on the pitch: “And this helps us, because we know each other well, but there is also a lot of understanding with the others. After all, we have been preparing for this European Championship for a year.”
Arguably the most exciting player of those five is Francesco Camarda, who many are watching extremely closely. Bartesaghi explained that he is constantly surprised by just how good the 16-year-old striker is.
“He’s smaller than us and he’s always amazed me. Already at the first training session in the Primavera you could see that for his age he was formidable. He’s also a good boy, this helps him,” He said.
Bartesaghi was also asked about the creation of Milan Futuro, to which he said: “I really like the idea, it serves as an apprenticeship to get to the first team, which is not an easy thing. Milan Futuro will play in Serie C, it is a championship not to be underestimated. We will play there too.”
When asked if there is a player he looks up to most, he chose one of his Milan teammates: “My reference is Theo [Hernandez], who I have the opportunity to see every day in training. But I have always been inspired by Marcelo when he played for Real Madrid: I like him a lot, even if we have slightly different physical structures. Many people say that I resemble [Riccardo] Calafiori or [Alessandro] Bastoni, I am happy as a centre-back, but I prefer to be a full-back, which is my natural role.”