Italian football is in a slump and it’s in such a way for many reasons.
Money is an issue certainly, as well as crumbling facilities and old-school coaching mentalities that continue to drag Serie A behind the German, Spanish, English and perhaps even the Greek, French and Portuguese leagues.
But, some of the blame must be laid at the transfer strategies of the biggest clubs in country.
The recent trend of bringing in ‘proven’ but ageing foreign stars on free transfers is not only to the detriment of progressing young Italians but also highlights the fact that these players are simply no longer good enough to play top level football.
Why else would rival clubs let them leave so cheaply?
Yet these footballers are finding a home in Italy, employed by the likes of AC Milan, Inter, Juventus and Roma.
And they don’t come any bigger than that in Il Bel Paese.
Milan is undoubtedly the biggest culprit and at both ends of the San Siro. Giants of world football, clubs that only had to nod in order to sign up champions such as Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten, Lothar Mattheus, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Hernan Crespo, are now doing their shopping in the bargain aisle.
And it’s not only in Milan, as Juventus and Roma have also been guilty of it.
AC Milan have, for a few seasons now, based their transfer campaign around these ‘freebies’ and are finding that cheap is not always cheerful. Former Paris Saint-Germain winger Jeremy Menez had a terrific start but has since been anonymous, after a dismal string of performances. Brazilian defender Alex, aged 32 and also formerly of PSG, has not only been inconsistent but injury prone as well. Probably however, the poorest of the lot has been ex-Chelsea man Fernando Torres, a striker that seems allergic to scoring goals.
Across the city, Inter felt that Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic was the missing piece in their defensive jigsaw. But the 33-year-old has been disastrous in nearly every match he has played, and undoubtedly the Nerazzurri ‘s most calamitous defender (which is saying something when considering Andrea Ranocchia is also part of that back-line).
In Turin, current champions Juventus felt they had snapped up a bargain in Patrice Evra, expecting the fullback to become a flying wingback at the age of 33.
We will beg for some poetic licence here, as the former France captain was not free (there was a £1.2million transfer fee), but the sporting issues remain identical.
Evra has found the transition to Italian football difficult, has only featured sporadically and has failed to inspire confidence in any of his displays.
Further South, Roma took an educated gamble on another English Premier League fullback: Ashley Cole (also 33), hoping his Champions League experience would be an invaluable asset. Instead, the former Chelsea man has been the shadow of his former self, amid reports of not integrating with the squad and a possible exit come the January transfer window looming over him.
The Giallorossi also felt the need to sign ex-AC Milan flop Urby Emanuelson. The Dutch utility player has not even been included in their Champions League squad and has only seen a handful of minutes in a Roma shirt.
The recent set of European results and the emergence of smaller sides near the top of the Serie A table is proof, if it were needed, that this strategy is ruining the quality of these top clubs both long and short term.
Would these former heavy weights of European football not have been better served using and progressing players from their youth ranks when needed?
Do AC Milan not have a hungry young attacker that has the desire to impress and would have been just as (in)effective as Torres but with a view to becoming a great in a years to come?
They do… Hachim Mastour.
Do Inter not have a defender that would benefit from exposure in the first team and be probably just as error prone as Vidic, but with the potential to become an international?
They do… in Cristiano Biraghi, on loan at Chievo and they did with Matteo Bianchetti, who they allowed to leave for Verona and is now on loan at Empoli.
Did Roma have to invest in Cole?
Nope, they could have kept Alessio Romagnoli who is currently playing superbly on loan at Sampdoria.
And Matteo Liviero, in Serie B with Pro Vercelli, could surely be doing no worse than Evra at the Juventus Stadium.
The disastrous World Cup campaign in Brazil highlighted that Italy can ill-afford to neglect their young stars, who desperately need exposure at the highest level.
This is the model followed by Spain and they reaped the rewards both at club and national level.
Instead Serie A youngsters are shunted out in favour of over-paid and under-motivated has-beens that seem more interested in topping up their pension funds at the detriment of Italian football.
Wake up Serie A — and leave well alone these players that have long since passed their sell-by date.
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