Juventus starlet Fabio Miretti says Pavel Nedved was his idol as a kid, but now that he has changed position, Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne is his role model.
The 19-year-old attended a press conference in Turin along with his teammates Nicolò Fagioli and Matias Soulé. They joined club directors Maurizio Arrivabene Federico Cherubini in a press conference which explained Juventus’ plan for the development of young players.
“We present the results of a great work made with our youth sector,” said Arrivabene.
“If these three players have been promoted to the first team is thanks to those who believed in this project.”
Juventus are the only Serie A club with a ‘second team’ playing professional football in Italy’s Serie C. It was called Juventus U23 and will be named Juventus NextGen from this season.
“Only 3% of Primavera players have completed their path to the first team in Italian football in the last ten years. Our U23 squad was built with a double target: to win and develop young footballers. Today is the first day we can say we are reaping the rewards of this hard work,” added Cherubini.
Miretti started his first Champions League game on Tuesday against PSG and has already collected six appearances with the Old Lady this term.
“When I started playing football, my idol was Pavel Nedved who is our vice president now,” said Miretti.
“Then, growing up, I’ve changed position and now my reference point is Kevin De Bruyne.
“I arrived at Juventus when I was eight years old. I’ve come through the youth sector, reaching the first team. I have supported Juventus since I was a kid. I could have joined Torino, but the services Juventus offered at that time were more practical, so my family and I chose Juventus.”