Juventus winger Federico Chiesa has suggested Italy are behind other nations in terms of their development due to the lack of opportunities in Serie A.
The Azzurri again missed out on qualification for the World Cup and Chiesa suggested it is because not enough Italian players have starting roles in the country’s top flight.
Asked a Juventus charity event what was changing with the Italy squad seemingly getting younger, he told reporters: “The coach [Roberto] Mancini and the people who work with him know better than I do that we are in need of change.
“We need new, fresh players and we also need to change the Italian system. Because the truth is we are behind other nations because, like the coach said Italian players in Italy don’t play.
“But what is the problem? There aren’t the players, the talent or is it the development? So we need to ask ourselves these questions and change the mentality a bit.”
Mancini was hired as coach following Italy’s failure to reach the 2018 World Cup and, despite missing out on qualification for Qatar 2022, Chiesa said he believes the quick turnaround in triumphing at Euro 2022 is proof the former Inter coach is the right man to lead the Azzurri forward.
He added: “I think the coach, Mancini, is the right person to do this because he did it after the first missed World Cup and brought us to the top of Europe.
“So Mancini is the right man to do it [change the mentality]. For me, development is fundamental. When I was growing up, at the Fiorentina academy you were taught the real basics and now there are other priorities, possibly results.”
Asked if he had any advice for Italy starlet Wilfried Gnonto, who produced an assist on his national team debut, Chiesa said: “Continue doing what he did when he came on in the last match.”
🗣 "Qual è il problema: che non ci sono i giocatori, che non c'è il talento o la formazione?"
"Siamo indietro": il monito di Federico Chiesa 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/JEGtHVfkLy
— GOAL Italia (@GoalItalia) June 11, 2022
Been writing it on here for a while.
Need to increase Italians in Serie A from the pittance 33% to AT LEAST 55%. Even that is low. Should really be 65%.
mancini is at fault as well he didn’t do much when needed knowing most players were not performing good, you could see it the hunger was missing after the euros!
I do understand starting rolls are needed for players development, but there is a great pool of talent . Yes Mancini is part to blame for the World Cup failures but he delivered the euros.
Constantly choosing his veterans who were under preforming and being persuaded in the selection by veterans as well resulted in the World Cup exclusion. But saying that I do believe he’s the man for the job.
The future could be even brighter.
Serie A must force the teams to play with 65% Italians and you will see how things will change in a positive way. Otherwise Italy could suffer not making to the next Euros 2024 and the next World Cup 2026 as well
IT IS URGENT otherwise the club managements would not care, all what they care about is money, and we will see even less and less Italians playing especially in the big teams like Juventus, Milan, Inter, Roma and Napoli
When serie a was the best league in the world it was mainly full of Italian players.