Italy CT Roberto Mancini and Juventus coach Max Allegri have very different views on helping young home-grown players coming through the ranks.
When Mancini took over from Giampiero Ventura, one of his first moves was to call up Nicolò Zaniolo, who at that time had never played in Serie A.
He managed to take a side that had failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup and transformed it by winning UEFA EURO 2020 and setting a new all-time world unbeaten record.
“There are many strong young players in Italy. They only need to play at a certain level,” said Mancini during his press conference on Monday.
“You can expect anything from youngsters. One may not be ready at the beginning, but in 6-10 months he can become good enough for the national team.
“We have many young players in the youth national teams, we only need to wait and hope they get playing time. They improve only by playing at a certain level, especially young players.”
On the other hand, Mancini is increasingly frustrated by the attitude taken by coaches at club level in Serie A, exemplified by Allegri at Juventus.
Ahead of the 1-0 win over Fiorentina, Allegri had defended sending Kaio Jorge to the Under-23 squad, which plays in Serie C, and taking a very slow and steady approach to helping younger players develop.
“The second team is important because it helps the players’ growth,” insisted Allegri.
“Then from the second team, which plays in Serie C, the player must go Serie B and play many games, a second-tier Serie A club and at that point you can evaluate if a player can play for Juventus or Serie A or other teams.
“Some might not agree with me. The players that emerge start from Serie C, go through Serie B and get to Serie A. Like 30 years ago.”