After witnessing Italian starlets Nicolo Barella and Moise Kean score for Azzurri in the 2-0 victory against Finland on Saturday evening, Italy Under-21 coach Luigi Di Biagio has praised the youth team set-up which he is a part of for nurturing a new generation of players.
The 47-year-old coached the Italy U-20 team from 2011 to 2013 and he has been the Azzurrini coach since then, and he has witnessed an emergence of promising players since the FIGC made chances after the national team failed to make it past the group stage of the 2010 World Cup.
“Nicolo and Moise are children of the national youth teams, of all the coaches who have had them, and of the coordinator of the national youth Maurizio Viscidi, and of Arrigo Sacchi, who has set a method. For us, it is a great victory,” Di Biagio told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Eight years ago they asked us to re-found the youth teams, to become a supplier for the senior team. Here, when we see these results, we understand that the project has not only progressed but that it is now complete. What happened yesterday [Saturday] gives a lot of strength to our movement.”
Di Biagio also thanked Italy coach Roberto Mancini for trusting the youngsters and having faith in the Italian youth sector.
“Roberto gives continuous support, he understands and understood what we have been doing over the years,” he added.
“There are other guys ready to jump and the coach knows.”
