Former Juventus star, Claudio Marchisio, has slammed the Serie A for the lack of homegrown talent and called for a major rule change to help young Italian players.
What Does Claudio Marchisio Do Now?
The Italian soccer legend retired in October 2019, ending an outstanding career which saw Marchisio make 389 appearances for Juventus – winning seven Serie A titles and four Coppa Italias.
During this stunning career, Marchisio was also a regular member of the Italian national team, earning 55 caps for the Azzurri and appearing in two World Cups and the 2012 Euros.
Since retiring, the Italian opted to stay away from the typical route of coaching or even punditry, as he co-founded a management agency that helps players/professional athletes with anything from legal advice to image rights.
The 39-year-old began this venture in 2021, working with multiple young athletes in soccer and other sports in Italy, which has said to have shown some alarming statistics in Italian soccer.
In a recent interview, Marchisio revealed that the lack of Italian talent that is being given a chance in the various leagues is ‘alarming’ and claims the Primavera needs to do more.
Marchisio said: “I now run an agency as a football agent and the data we have on the use of Italian players is truly alarming. Two or three years ago the Primavera was won by a team that didn’t have a single Italian player on the pitch. And only 2% of those non-European youngsters went on to play professionally.
“The rules state that foreign players can arrive after the under-16 level. From that point onwards, you see very few Italian or even European players in the youth teams.”
Interestingly, another retired Italian midfielder echoed this point in recent weeks, as Gennaro Gattuso believes the lack of Italian talent in Serie A is a major flaw within the nation.
Gattuso was recently appointed as the new manager of the Italian national side following Luciano Spalletti’s dismissal and will be looking to improve on the Azzurri’s recent performances in tournaments.
What Rule Would Claudio Marchisio Change In Serie A?
A key statistic that was revealed by Gattuso was that 35% of the Serie A player pool is made up from Italian players, which means 65% of the talent is from around the globe.
A host of Italy’s star players have left the country to play their soccer elsewhere, including Gianluigi Donnarumma, Jorginho, Sandro Tonali, Destiny Udogie and Riccardo Calafiori.
As for the youth coming through the ranks, the Italy U21 side were eliminated by Germany in the Euro U21 quarter finals and the U17’s were beaten in the semi-finals by Portugal during their respective Euro tournament.
You have to go back to 2004 to find the last time Italy won the U21 Euros, as England, Germany and Spain have dominated in recent years – hence why each were favored to win the competition on the best betting apps this summer.
Marchisio has called for a new rule in Italy which would benefit the homegrown talent, claiming only three non-European players should be allowed in each youth team.
Marchisio said: “What could be done? There should be a rule that youth teams can only field a maximum of three non-European players – rising to possibly six or eight in Senior teams.”
“Rino Gattuso said in his presentation that the percentage of Italian players [in Serie A] is just over 35%. There are Serie A teams that play without a single player trained in our country. Buying and selling has become the norm, like everything else in a globalised society – but the beauty of sport lies in developing talent.”
