Sassuolo director Giovanni Carnevali confirms Juventus ‘are interested’ in Davide Frattesi and hopes more clubs follow the path of nurturing young talents, as Tommaso Barbieri debuts today.
It kicks off at the Mapei Stadium in Reggio Emilia at 17.00 UK time (16.00 GMT).
You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s Serie A games on the LIVEBLOG.
It used to be just Sassuolo and Atalanta who focused most of their resources on developing players from their youth academy, but now that the NextGen team is consistent in Serie C, Juve are plucking more talents from those ranks.
The latest is 20-year-old right-back Barbieri, who gets his Serie A debut in the starting XI this evening.
“It is a good thing, as not only teams like Sassuolo, but also the big clubs should bet on young Italian players. I think it is a good way of beginning a new era,” Sassuolo director of sport Carnevali told DAZN.
There has been a lot of speculation around the future of Italy international Frattesi, who is linked with Juventus, Roma, Milan, Inter, Arsenal and more for the summer. How will he handle the pressure today?
“It won’t be easy for him, as naturally there is a lot of focus on him. Many clubs are interested, but it’s still too early to talk about the transfer market. There is nothing concrete with Juventus, it’s premature to talk about that, but there is interest from Juve.”