Moise Kean and Pietro Pellegri are just recent examples of Serie A’s youth revolution

Date: 1st June 2017 at 10:46am
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An abundance of promising youngsters emerged in the 2016-17 campaign and two marked the end of the season joining the list of Serie A’s youngest ever scorers

After years of seeing Italian clubs prefer experienced heads over vibrant youngsters, supporters of calcio are seeing a change in that trend. This season Serie A turned into a fountain of youth and the perception of the league being a retirement home seems to be a thing of the past.

There were some exciting starlets who made their breakthrough such as Federico Chiesa at Fiorentina, Manuel Locatelli at AC Milan, Patrik Schick at Sampdoria, and Franck Kessie and Mattia Caldara at Atalanta among countless others.

To conclude a season in which a plethora of kids emerged, two of the youngest prodigies in Moise Kean and Pietro Pellegri scored goals in the final round of the Serie A season.

Kean made his debut for Juventus in the Round 13 victory against Pescara and Bianconeri coach Massimiliano Allegri gave him more than 10 minutes of playing time in Saturday’s match against Bologna.

The 17-year-old was the unlikely hero for La Vecchia Signora as his diving header in injury time gave his team the 2-1 victory against the Felsinei and made him the first person born in 2000 to score in one of Europe’s Top Five leagues.

Born in Italy to Ivorian parents, Kean has won 17 caps for the Italy Under-17 squad and he is touted as being the next Mario Balotelli for his frame and style of play.

It seemed that nobody was going to take much attention away from him but another prodigious attacker also found the back of the net in Serie A in Round 38.

Pellegri, born in 2001, was granted his first start for Genoa by Coach Ivan Juric for the match against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico, and in a match that will be best remembered as Francesco Totti’s farewell game, the 16-year-old temporarily stole the limelight – and Kean’s short-lived record – by opening the scoring after just three minutes.

The Rossoblu striker ran onto a pass from Darko Lazovic, beat Giallorossi defender Kostas Manolas, and slotted the ball past Lupi goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Remarkably the starlet could have scored his second goal with a volley before half-time but his team eventually lost 3-2 to the home side.

Earlier in the 2016-17 season, Pellegri came on as a substitute in the 1-0 defeat to Torino in Week 18 and he became the youngest debutant Serie A history at 15 years and 280 days, equalling the record set by Amadeo Amadei in 1937.

With that goal against Roma, he became the third-youngest goalscorer ever in the league behind Amadei and Gianni Rivera at 16 years, two months and 11 days, while Kean is 14th on the list at 17 years, two months and 29 days thanks to his winner against Bologna.

Although coaches often grant youngsters opportunities at the end of each season, not many of them go on to achieve great success but Kean and Pellegri might not disappear so quickly. Even with just flashes of brilliance, they might add to the graduates of 2016-17.

They could go on to achieve greater success in their careers but if they don’t, at least they already have a place in the history books before reaching adulthood.

 

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