Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis has outlined his plans to revolutionise the Italian club game.
The Azzurri owner thinks that four steps need to be taken in order to reform football on the peninsula.
Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis has outlined his plans to revolutionise the Italian club game.
The Azzurri owner thinks that four steps need to be taken in order to reform football on the peninsula.
Firstly, he wants clubs to focus more on developing young Italian players rather than spending money on foreign imports. He would then, secondly, give them a platform to play.
“We need to form players for the future because we can’t keep buying from outside of Italy,” the movie mogul argued.
“All that is needed for that is to then allow our youth teams to take part in the Lega Pro Divisions. That would help our youngsters and their value grow.
“We would therefore already have a reservoir that would guarantee us reinforcements for the future.”
De Laurentiis also wants to see a change to Serie A, the Italian top-flight which is currently home to 20 clubs.
“It needs to be cut to 16 sides,” he underlined. “And we can’t wait another 10 years in order to reduce those numbers…
“If we want to revolutionise calcio then we can do so in three months!”
The Stadio San Paolo chief finally underlined the need for new stadiums, fan-friendly environments that can generate revenue.
“If I could build a new stadium then I’d get rid of the Curvas behind the goal,” he said somewhat controversially.
“I adore the Curvas and I know how much passion is there, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t put those spectators in the best possible place to view the games.
“We have to offer the maximum at stadiums, the best facilities, to give a person who pays €10 the same opportunities to watch the game as one who pays €100.
“We have to think that we can’t please everyone because if you try to do that then you won’t make anyone happy.”