One of the shining lights of Juventus’ otherwise underwhelming 1-0 loss to Sassuolo on Sunday evening was the performance of 20-year-old defender Tommaso Barbieri.
The occasion marked the versatile, young full-back’s first ever start in a Serie A game, having made his senior debut for Juve in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain in November.
Barbieri was described as ‘looking like a veteran’, when in reality he is ‘a boy who has just entered the top division.’
Turin-based outlet Tuttosport wrote after the game that his two-year spell playing for Juventus Next Gen has proved to be fundamental in his development and pathway into the first team picture at the Allianz Stadium.
The report claimed that Barbieri is “a mature player, aware of his own value because he has already proved himself against the best.”
Barbieri has already been a professional for four years, despite only being 20 years of age and has a wealth of experience at various levels of the Italian pyramid as a result.
The former Novara full-back arrived in Turin for a fee of around €1.4 million in the summer of 2020 amidst strong interest from Atletico Madrid in LaLiga.
However, he had caught the eye of his future employers almost a year earlier when selected to play in a friendly against the Old Lady at Continassa, where, as a teenager, he was tasked with marking Cristiano Ronaldo.
Four years down the line and Barbieri is already in Massimilano Allegri’s plans and will be targeting more minutes for the first team before the end of the season.