Former Torino forward Francesco Graziani feels that the high number of foreign players in Serie A has led to the decline of the Azzurri and suggested that his argument is not meant in a ‘discriminatory’ way.
Italy suffered a shock 1-0 loss to North Macedonia in their play-off clash last night, meaning that the Azzurri will miss out on their second consecutive World Cup. Many fans cannot believe that Roberto Mancini’s side missed out following their Euro 2020 success last summer, feeling that the national team had finally returned to the top.
Speaking to TuttoMercatoWeb, Graziani first gave his opinions regarding the solution to Italy’s football problem.
“The truth is that now there are too many foreign players and we need to go back to the old days, investing in the youth systems.
“The arrival of so many players from abroad in the end has precluded the growth of our football.”
The 1982 World Cup winner then suggested that his argument was not meant in a discriminatory way.
“UEFA and FIFA must think about it, we need to go back to when there were two or three strong foreign players per team. This isn’t a discriminatory argument.
“We need to have a new way of working, in the youth systems, aiming to make the teams play well and not wanting to win at all costs. We must try to have a precise identity that we don’t have at the moment.”
Finally, Graziani reiterated the need to further invest in young Italian players in youth football.
“I hear people say that players are cheaper abroad but I don’t agree, let’s start investing in Italian players. As far as forwards are concerned, there are also cycles.
“In 2006 we were under the illusion that despite the foreign players we could achieve great results, but now that the experience of extraordinary players such as Maldini, Baggio and Totti is over, it’s hard to grow other top players.”
In the 1980s and 1990s, Serie A had a limit on the number of foreign players allowed per club, starting at one and later rising to three. This forced foreign stars to play for more provincial sides if they wanted to take part in the Italian league, with examples being Zico at Udinese and Socrates at Fiorentina.
It’s incredibly unlikely that the removal of this limit has genuinely harmed the quality of Italian football, considering the global nature of modern football and the strengths of national teams like Germany, Spain and France.
Graziani: "La verità è che ci sono troppi stranieri. Io farei così" https://t.co/uEHsvoL7zt
— Fiorentina Uno (@FiorentinaUno) March 25, 2022
Bit late now!!! But finally people are talking about real resolutions.
Limit competition…genius. Good luck with that
Goes without saying this is what is needed but with EU Laws as they are, how can it be implemented?