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Future Italian Superstars Part 1: The Juventini

March 17th, 2009 | By: Julian | 32 Comments »

At the end of my last post, I asked any SerieA bloggers over at theoffside to help me out with looking for upcoming Italian talent. Basically, I wanted them to name 2-3 players for thier club who are young, Italian, and could be good/great national team players in the future. The only one who responded so far is Alessio, but boy did he respond. I doubt I could say it any better than he did, so I’ll just let you guys see it:

Claudio Marchisio:
Born and bred in Turin, Claudio Marchisio has notched up the most minutes of any Juve youth player this season. With Tiago’s indifferent form and an injury-plagued season for Cristiano Zanetti, Marchisio has locked down a position in center-midfield. In the Juve post-preseason preview I picked him as our breakout star for 2008-2009. I’d say he’s met that. He’s frequently been compared with Juve great Marco Tardelli, for his versatility, tenacity, and intelligence in midfield. The kid can pass, shoot, dribble, and his defensive skills are top-notch. What’s most impressive to me is, for how young he is, he has a fantastic positional sense. A center-mid can be the most talented player in the world, but if he’s not aware of his surroundings, it’s worthless. Marchisio is in the right place at nearly all the right times. I firmly believe that players should be called up to the Azzurri after winning a spot in Serie A, which is why it’s too early for Giovinco. But Marchisio’s great Serie A form (his performance against Milan was MOTM by miles) means Lippi needs to seriously consider him. There’s been a lot of talk about how Pirlo and De Rossi seemingly can’t co-exist in the same midfield. I think Marchisio would compliment either nicely. He has a great future ahead of him

Sebastian Giovinco:
Super Seba, the Atomic Ant has had some unbelievably high expectations coming into this season. His performances in the Primavera led him to be one of the few youth players widely known throughout Italy. A great season on loan at Empoli (alongside fellow Primavera Claudio Marchisio) led to feverish expectations this season. An excellent display at the Olympics this summer in Beijing did not diminish these hopes, either. He’s been touted as Italy’s next legendary #10. Able to play as a supporting-striker, winger, or trequartista, Giovinco has plenty of versatility. Seba is most known for his first touch, his dribbling, and his excellent vision to create chances for the forwards. He hasn’t played as much as us Juventini were hoping, but with the injury to Pavel Nedved, it’s Gio’s time to stake his claim for a first-team spot. And boy, has he. An excellent performance coming on as a sub against Chelski, followed by a MOTM performance against Bologna in which he was constantly tearing Bologna’s defense open. Ranieri has mostly played him as a left-winger, which he clearly doesn’t like, but has also fielded him in his preferred position of trequartista on a few occasions. Being named Del Piero’s heir is a tough act to follow (ie- Palladino) but Giovinco has shown he has the quality. He just needs to be given a chance to play consistently. I don’t think Lippi should call him up quite yet, but he is undoubtedly one for the next few years.

Paolo De Ceglie:
PDC isn’t from Turin, but from the neighboring Valle d’Aosta. Unlike Giovinco or Marchisio, he was sent to Siena on co-ownership, but Secco wisely snapped up the 2nd half of his contract this summer bringing him back to home. Paolo probably had the lowest expectations for this season, but has done well. His performances at left-back have been mixed, but he did very well when playing as a vice-Nedved at left-mid, particularly against Milan this season where he tore Zambrotta up, forcing him off with a 2nd yellow. His best aspects are his pace and his crossing ability. Considering we’ve had Molinaro generally crossing from the left-mid, PDC has been a huge improvement. His first touch of the game against Lecce was a perfect cross for Amauri to head back into the game. As a young player, his positional sense isn’t totally refined yet, but there is time. I personally loved him playing at left-mid, he gave us a very different dynamic in attack. It remains to be seen which position he evolves into, but his performances this season have certainly been encouraging. Not one for the Azzurri now, but I imagine 2-3 years down the road he will be consistently called up.

Alessio was also kind enough to send me a picture of all these youngin’s (which is wierd for me to say because they’re all older than me). He credits Adam from the Juve offside with this find.

You can spot Criscito, Giovinco (with hair!), De Ceglie, Marchisio, and other plays I’m sure diehard Juve fans could easily recognize.

And that was the tip of the iceberg. Alessio also named some other promising players who are either on loan or in the primavera, and I’ll save those for a later post.

This is part one of many. I hope other offside bloggers join in and help me out, and I’ll attempt to contact all of them in an effort to acheive this end. On the other hand, if you guys could post a comment so I could snag your email, that’d be even better. Much thanks.

Tags: Claudio Marchisio, Group E, Italian Superstars of the Future, Italy, Juventus, Paolo De Ceglie, Sebastian Giovinco

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 32 comments.

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By Bojan | March 17th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

I know a couple of Roma youngsters that are great,let’s start with marco Motta as the next big thing he was great against Arsenal,Marco D’Alessandro as RMF,Okaka Chuka and Cerco(both great) in attack we had Davide Petrucci(the next Totti but those bastrads from Man.Utd snapped him up from right under our noses,in the midfield there are Valerio Virga,Greco,Gallopa,Bertolacci and and Milan’s Abate that plays in Torino I think,and there is Rosi this guy is great and plays as a LMF,in defense there are Freddy,Brosco and Crescenzi and our latest recruit from Inter in exchange for Chivu Marco Andreolli,and as a Gk there are Curci loaned to some team and ex-romanista Amelia!!!All of this guys are great i’ve seen them play in Viaregio tournament!!!

By kqql | March 17th, 2009 at 8:20 pm

Inter – Italian Youths:
Santon and Balotelli vs. Fiorentina
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LiGCLzA444

and on Loan are:
Vivano and Acquafresca

By kqql | March 17th, 2009 at 8:24 pm

AC Milan:

On Loan to Parma: Paloschi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvrSNEG4YYk

On Loan to Torino: Abate

By Capocorso | March 17th, 2009 at 8:41 pm

Cant wait until Inter sell Acquafresca…after all what would Inter want with an Italian player.

By Jeff | March 17th, 2009 at 11:26 pm

As a couple said above, I also think Motta has the potential to be good as well. He has done a great job so far overall at Roma and I hope they keep him and he eventually gets into international play.

Posted from United States

By Bobo | March 17th, 2009 at 11:38 pm

Sampdoria has the best Primavera in all of Italy, so Julian you should really profile them next. Soriano, Poli (best midfielder under the age of 20 I have EVER seen), Fiorillo, Marilungo… I have the highest of hopes for all of these kids. After them comes Inter with Caldirola, Tremolada, Destro. There are some truly fantastic young Italian players in circulation at the moment.

By Bobo | March 17th, 2009 at 11:39 pm

Motta will be great, I have no doubt about it. Power, finesse, defensive skills, he’s got it all. Could be a better passer, but I’m not complaining

By Julian | March 17th, 2009 at 11:51 pm

Bobo- I’m generating these posts largely with the help of the offside bloggers. If/when the Samp bloggers get back to me, I’ll surely have a post up. I haven’t seen them play this season so I don’t think its fair for me to do a writeup.

Posted from United States

By Mostafa | March 18th, 2009 at 7:03 am

Julian, i’m from the chievo blog, read the mail i just sent ya

By ForzaAzurri | March 18th, 2009 at 9:39 am

Ithink Lippi should call cassino, Matarizzi, Supermario, Santon, Acquafresca.

Posted from United States

By asem | March 18th, 2009 at 10:29 am

Someone doing a write up for the Romanista in the pipeline?
I would but I don’t feel I am knowledgable enough…

Posted from United States

By Sofia | March 18th, 2009 at 10:54 am

i don’t know if Alessio pointed him out (he probably did) but theres a kid in our Primavera squad who has received a few senior team callups – Fausto Rossi. He is a really great talent and is only 18 I believe.

By Bashar | March 18th, 2009 at 11:06 am

Roma:

Okaka, Andreolli, Rosi and Cerci are all out on loan.
Motta is in on loan as well.

I think all 5 have the potential to be great.
- Rosi is doing great things at Livorno playing as a winger/wing back according to Marco at the Livorno offside.
- Andreolli doing really well at Sassuolo with 1 goal, 11 clean sheets in 27 games.
- Okaka just went to Brescia this winter and has 2 goals and an assist in 6.5 games.
- Cerci has done nothing with Atalanta this year but last season in Serie B he had 10 goals from midfield for Pisa.
- Motta has just been fantastic since he joined in the winter. Aside from the last game where he stupidly got himself sent off he was brilliant, particularly in both games against Arsenal.

Posted from United States

By Bashar | March 18th, 2009 at 11:07 am

Motta is the only one ready for the Azzurri now but the rest are all hot prospects for Roma in the future… I hope.

Posted from United States

By Bashar | March 18th, 2009 at 11:12 am

Juventus sent a young striker out on loan.. I forget his name now but he really impressed me last year in the coppa italia was it? I think he could be a very hot prospect like Paloschi and Forestieri. Alessio.. help me out here.

You can take your pick from the Genoa players… Criscito, Palladino, Sculli, Ferrari, Modesto, Mesto, Rossi, Bochetti, etc…

Posted from United States

By Bashar | March 18th, 2009 at 11:14 am

Cristian Pasquato!!! That’s it!!!

Posted from United States

By Bobo | March 18th, 2009 at 12:23 pm

I think Pasquato has fallen off the radar for now, just like Forestieri and (to a lesser extent) Paloschi.

By Bobo | March 18th, 2009 at 12:28 pm

I don’t think Motta really counts as a youth player. From Roma’s primavera, I like Brosco (CD) and D’Alessandro (MF) best.

I think Brosco has the talent to be the starting central defender for the Azzurri at some point in the future, but he is very similar to Chiellini and I don’t think having two strongmen in the center would be the way to go. I’m still waiting for the defender with finesse to emerge (the Baresi of the pair if you will). Santacroce is inconsistent and Marco Andreolli (the most gifted prospect) has quite a few problems with injury.

If I could see a pairing of Chiellini-Andreolli or Brosco-Andreolli for the Azzurri around Euro 2012, I would feel much more secure about the future of our national team.

By Julian | March 18th, 2009 at 1:37 pm

These guys don’t have to be youth players. They’re just players who haven’t been called up to the Azzurri consistently, who arguably deserve to be. It could be older guys like Miccoli or primavera players

Posted from United States

By alessio | March 18th, 2009 at 2:04 pm

Pasquato’s on loan at Empoli. He’s only 19, isn’t a starter but he’s been doing fairly well.

Posted from Spain

By Mostafa | March 18th, 2009 at 3:56 pm

Sorry julian it’s just too hard to name a chievo player who can play well with la nazionalie

By Mostafa | March 18th, 2009 at 3:58 pm

btw chievo does not lack italians but it lacks age the age average is about 30/29 so too old for azzurri i guess.

By Daddio | March 18th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

Paloschi is in stunning all around form and is the talk of Serie B at the moment, showing a complete game lately and blowing thru defenders and defenses.

Back to Juventini, the boy with the Gilardino moptop in the front row on the left is none other than Michele Paolucci, as gifted a finisher as Italy’s seen in ages, who Pippo Inzaghi says is his favorite young striker to watch in Serie A.

By Jessica | March 20th, 2009 at 3:15 pm

I just read on C4 that Juve might swap Giovinco for Cassano, in part of a package deal. I hope this does not happen – nothing to do with Sampdoria, but I think Giovinco should stay at the place I really hope his future is!