Amid recent struggles for Italy’s national team, questions have been asked about the state of Serie A as a breeding ground for Italian players. As highlighted by a report, there is cause for concern on this front.
While Italy managed to win the Euros in 2021 (Euro 2020), they missed out on the World Cup in 2018 and in 2022, while getting knocked out in the round of 16 of Euro 2024. In other words, there are evidently issues and the development of Italian players in Serie A is a huge part of that.
The Growth Decree, essentially a tax relief for foreign players in Italy, was removed as a result of the discussions and work is still ongoing to improve the situation. However, as highlighted by La Stampa this morning (via MilanNews), an alarm has gone off yet again.
In fact, out of the players who have entered the pitch in Serie A this season, only 32% are Italian. Put differently, 588 players have featured in the league this season and a whopping 401 of them are foreigners.
Udinese have the most foreign players in their squad with 27, while Parma and Verona are closely behind at 26. AC Milan, meanwhile have 25 foreign players and are tied with the likes of Como and Parma. Among the big clubs, Inter are at 19 while Juventus are at 20.
Milan are expected to undergo an ‘Italianisation’ of sorts in the summer following the struggles this season.,
Well Times change and there are not so many great Italien players anymore. Is there even an Italien superstar right now?
That is not the point, many national teams don’t produce Stars like they used to. Most of these foreign players are not as good as the italian players. Out of the 401 You can’t name 20 stars.
I’ve been saying this for a long time. Italy needs to overcorrect and make a rule that every team should be 95% Italian! In fact when you look at the youth national teams, they are always in the semi or finals of euros or world cups so why should Italian teams focus on young players that simply aren’t as good.
how can they be good if Italian clubs prefer foreigners & overpriced local talents?
Facts. We say italy don’t produce, but we bought emerson royal, chuck etc… Half these players can’t make the italy squad if there were italian.
Italian talents are not developing well. Good Italian players are few and far between. That’s all there is to it.
I love seeing Italians in Milan as well but for the past 7years Italy didn’t produce any good players… Ofc I’d go for A.jimenez over Calabria.