Italy

Calcio Debate: Serie A - Poor And Desperate?

Why is it that Serie A clubs are suffering in the transfer market this season, and why is youth finding it so difficult to flourish in the Italian top-flight?

Jan 11, 2009 7:14:20 AM

Sebastian Giovinco - Juventus-Catania - Serie A (Grazia Neri)

There was once a time when Italy and Italian clubs were dominant in all the major football competition and Serie A was considered to be the best league in the world. The best players wanted to play in Italy, and clubs such as Milan, Juventus and Inter boasted the top transfer captures on the planet.

For years the transfer war has been a three-horse race between England, Spain and Italy, with the majority of the world’s best players striving to ply their trade in one of these three prestigious leagues. This still remains the case, but the order of preference seems to be shifting.

The Italian league once had the Marco van Bastens, Roberto Baggios and Zinedine Zidane’s of the world, but the honour of the world’s best is now firmlyheld by the Premier League and La Liga, where Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres and Lionel Messi play week in and week out.

Testament to that is the fact that out of the 23 candidates originally chosen that are in the running to be crowned World Player of the Year at a presentation ceremony on tomorrow in Zurich, Gianluigi Buffon is the only Italian player representing the Azzurri at the award. Serie A could only boast three players that would have been in the running, with the Juve goalkeeper one of them. The other two were Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Inter Milan and Milan’s Kaka, who has made the top five at least.

The poor showing from Italian football is largely down to the failure of the club teams in Europe last season, as well as the national team's horrendous experience at Euro 2008, when the world champions were knocked out by Spain in the quarter-final stage. Italian club teams failed to move past the quarter-final stage of the Champions League last year, and Fiorentina were the only bright light, reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. English teams were well represented because of the success of their sides in the Champions League last season, while Spain's presence was also felt due to their Euro 2008 victory.

Transfers during the current market window have been few and far between, as clubs are very careful with their money and how much they spend. Perhaps this is the reason why the January transfer market has been so lackluster and boring thus far.

The biggest deal of the winter period has been that of a 33-year-old MLS player by the name of David Beckham, who will only grace Serie A pitches for two months before returning to the States. One has to wonder if this was more of a commercial move, in order to pump some much needed funds into Italian football, or whether Adriano Galliani and co truly believe that having Beckham in the squad for a couple of months can help the team to achieve their aims.

Juventus are in contact with Diego from Werder Bremen. The 23-year-old, who has over 25 caps for Brazil has declared his desire to join a big club, but Juve could lose out if they are unable or unwilling to table the €30 million it will take to capture the player.

The money floating around in the football world in general has taken a bit of a nose dive, but Serie A has been hit the hardest of the top three. The money usually brought in by way of Champions League winnings was not there this time around after their poor showing, and the match-fixing scandal has hit the leagues popularity and commercialism as well.

Perhaps it is time for Serie A to look towards their youth talent, because signing established players will simply not do. Ronaldinho and Beckham have their own appeal and are great signings in certain ways, but many will argue that even the Brazilian is past his prime, raising the same debate about the slow and old qualities of the once powerful Serie A.

Young players have never had the edge over their veteran and experienced counterparts in the league, and the same trend continues today, with the likes of Mario Balotelli and Sebastian Giovinco benched in favour of Julio Cruz and Alessandro Del Piero. Granted, those experienced players have done very well in recent times, but how are the young talents in Italy expected to grow and develop if they are not afforded the chance to play at the highest level with the best teams available?

So while calcio has always been a place where a player is not given a chance until they’re ready, or old enough, it may be that Italy has to turn into a country of Arsene Wengers, where youth is the priority and development of young talent is key. There is one shining light that gives some hope to fans of calico however, and they call themselves Napoli.

The club have impressed immensely in the last two seasons, since coming up from Serie B in the same season as Juventus did. Young talent has been nurtured at the Partenopei, and the likes of Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and German Denis have provided flowing entertaining attacking football, while remaining mature enough to keep consistency and achieve results.

Will Italy follow the trend set by Napoli? Is the talent is the country given a real chance, or are they simply not good enough to compete with players in other leagues? Let Goal.com know what YOU think?

--Peter Pedroncelli, Goal.com

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Calcio Debate: Serie A - Poor And Desperate?

Why is it that Serie A clubs are suffering in the transfer market this season, and why is youth finding it so difficult to flourish in the Italian top-flight?

Jan 11, 2009 7:14:20 AM

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