An accusation that can be — somewhat rightfully — directed towards Serie A in general is that clubs fail to utilize their youth system and prefer to employ older and more experienced players instead. In doing so, clubs only further fuel the stereotype that Serie A is an ‘old-man’ league.
Due to the financial crisis that has plagued Italian football for a number of years now, we are starting to see clubs play more of their younger players. Obviously, this is more out of necessity than out of willingness.
Inter, for a large portion of this past decade was by far the best team in Italy, and at one point in Europe, but were regularly criticized for preferring foreign talent rather than to nurture their own. Inter are just one example, however, as this assertion that clubs are scared to play young players could be pointed at most clubs in the league. Catania for instance — when they were in Serie A — seldom featured its academy graduates and instead heavily delved in the South American market.
Atalanta, on the other hand, have always bucked that trend. Perhaps it is the knowledge that they will never realistically compete for the league title or in Europe, and thus take the opportunity and time to develop players. Despite having the identical colour strip as Inter, and being located basically on the doorstep of Milan, their ideologies regarding youth in the past decade could not have been further apart.
When looking at the likes of Giampaolo Pazzini, Riccardo Montolivo, and most recently Giacomo Bonaventura, they all share three things in common. They all play for Italian giants AC Milan, are Italian internationals, and most importantly are all graduates of Atalanta’s famed youth academy. Juventus’ Scudetto winning duo Marco Motta and Simone Padoin can too boast that they came up through the Orobici system, while current Azzurri forwards Manolo Gabbiadini and Simone Zaza also had their footballing education in Bergamo.
Other established Serie A players such as highly-rated Sassuolo goalkeeper Andrea Consigli and Atalanta trio Rolando Bianchi, Michele Canini, and Andrea Lazzari — all currently back in their second stint at the club — were also successful graduates of Atalanta’s youth system.
So is all this simply some generational fluke? Of course not. Although you could argue there is not much competition, Atalanta can still claim that they possess the best academy in Italy. The club has an ideal plan when it comes to promoting youth, and the ideal role model in implementing it.
“We really like the way Ajax deal with young players. They don’t care about results on the pitch; they are only interested in showing all of their youngsters how to play.” – Mino Favini, head of the Atalanta youth academy for 14 years.
Dutch giants Ajax boast of arguably world football’s finest youth academy, along with Barcelona’s fabled La Masia, and Atalanta have picked the right model to emulate. The staff does not only care about the player’s footballing ability, but also their willingness to fit into the club ethos and culture. While the club trusts its young footballers, they hope to be rewarded with that same faith back.
Atalanta has engineered close links with all the youth clubs around the area, which ensures they receive the first refusal on any promising players making waves in the district. They try to recruit their player’s locally, which means that these young footballers find it easier to assimilate and settle in with their new surroundings. A humble, yet effective strategy.
Realistically, by the 2016 European Championships, Atalanta may be able to claim that they have up to eight youth products in the Italian national squad, which would be a remarkable achievement.
Adding to the aforementioned Pazzini, Montolivo, Bonaventura, Zaza and Gabbiadini, current Atalanta stars and academy graduates Daniele Baselli and Davide Zappacosta are destined to be future Italy stars. Primavera stars Mario Pugliese, Lorenzo Pezzi, Tiziano Tulissi, and Alberto Grassi are all tipped to join the senior squad in the next few years and also look set for a bright future.
It is no doubt that Atalanta boast the best youth academy in Italy. With all the corruption that has engulfed Italian football in recent years, it really is a breath of fresh air to see Atalanta going against the norm and continually blooding in players from their youth academy.
Follow Marco Credentino on Twitter at: @bigcreds
