Didier Deschamps agrees with Italy CT Roberto Mancini about a lack of chances for young players – “it’s something we do really well here in France”.
Les Bleus won the World Cup in the summer, while Mancio is looking to rebuild the Azzurri after they failed to even qualify for the tournament in Russia.
He has complained that young Italian players aren’t given enough of a chance in the top flight, causing a knock-on effect for the national team.
Didier Deschamps agrees with Italy CT Roberto Mancini about a lack of chances for young players – “it’s something we do really well here in France”.
Les Bleus won the World Cup in the summer, while Mancio is looking to rebuild the Azzurri after they failed to even qualify for the tournament in Russia.
He has complained that young Italian players aren’t given enough of a chance in the top flight, causing a knock-on effect for the national team.
“I was talking about that 12 years ago when I was Juventus Coach,” Deschamps reminded Gazzetta dello Sport.
“It’s also a development issue, and that’s something we do really well here in France. You start form the B team, then you go to a mid-table team and you get to a big club at maybe 23-24.
“England has the same problem too, whereas our youngsters have the chance to play at a decent level right away.
“That said, it’s not normal for Italy to be out of the World Cup. This bad moment should be exploited to force change.
“Mancini isn’t quite starting from scratch, but right now he only has a few quality players and an ambitious project to qualify.
“It’ll take time, but as I told him in June when we met for the friendly, in international football there’s never enough time.”
Deschamps played against Gianluigi Buffon during his playing career, and the goalkeeper is still going strong at Paris Saint-Germain.
“It amazes me to see him still at the top at 40. We’re not just talking about a wonderful person, who can transmit the right image to the youngsters, but a great champion who can be valuable for an ambitious team like PSG.
“You just have to look at how hard he works to stay at the top. Perhaps after so many years at Juve he needed a new challenge, and Paris is a beautiful city to live in.”