Udinese sit third in Serie A, have a modern stadium, synergy with Watford and one of the best scouting networks in the world, so owner Giampaolo Pozzo has his sights set on European football. ‘Discovering great talents is fundamental to have a sustainable club.’
The Friulani have spent the last few years hovering just above the relegation zone without ever really seeming at risk of going down to Serie B.
Their fans became frustrated with what they saw as the owners losing focus in favour of Premier League side Watford, or before that Granada in Spain.
However, this season seems to be all about Udinese for the Pozzo family and their patron spoke to Forbes about the project, which began rescuing the club from bankruptcy in 1986.
“The goal of Udinese has always been, and will always be, to discover great talents,” Pozzo says.
“This is fundamental to have a sustainable club.”
Their scouting network is world-renowned and in the last five seasons alone, Udinese brought in €235.5m in transfer fees.
The most recent boon was Nahuel Molina, picked up as a free transfer and sold two years later for €20m to Atletico Madrid.
“Now the landscape has changed because there are platforms like Wyscout and also maybe the richest clubs can quickly see a player and offer more money to get the player,” he says.
“But it is fundamental to still have a great scouting department. You can’t just look at a player on video. You need to be able to understand the potential of the player. Our scouting department is one of the best in the world.”
The Pozzo family were one of the first to own multiple clubs, performing numerous transfers and loans between them to get the best out of players needing development.
They purchased Spanish side Granada in 2009 and Watford in England three years later, getting them both promoted to the top flight.
Granada was sold in 2016 and Watford is now the primary focus for Giampaolo Pozzo’s son, Gino.
“I was one of the first to own more clubs but we see this phenomenon is increasing and it could be a new direction for football,” Pozzo says.
The veteran of Calcio is happy to welcome international owners into Serie A, as they raise the profile of Italian football and can bring fresh ideas.
Udinese remain one of the only Serie A sides to own their stadium, renovating the Stadio Friuli and getting naming rights for the Dacia Arena in 2016.
“It’s not easy to compete with the biggest clubs for a club with the dimension of Udinese, but we always work and we will work harder to close this gap,” he says.
“We are making a great effort in the last few years to step by step come back to compete with the top clubs, that is the ambition. The short to mid-term goal is to come back to (play in) European competition.”
tooo good for c.ronaldo
hope allegri is watching you lot play good football
You are killing the Italian football. There are only ONE Italian player in your team, Mr. Pozzo. Shame on you