The headline grabbers of the off season in Italy might have belonged to more experienced heads like Romelu Lukaku and Cristiano Ronaldo leaving the league but do not fear.
There is fresh blood on the horizon too. Here we take a look at the five youngest players in Serie A right now. While in other sports leagues the minimum age is higher, for example the youngest NBA players ever are never aged less than 18, in football 16 is already an age to feature in the first team.
Now, before we dive into the names let’s just clarify how we’ve judged the rankings. It’s quite simple really; we’ve taken players who have featured in Serie A this season and their age is as of the day they made their first appearance in this campaign.
So, who are the youngest players in Serie A right now?
5. Janis Antiste, 19 years 10 days
Kicking off our list of the youngest players in Serie A right now is striker Janis Antiste. The youngster is a new arrival to Italy after Spezia shelled out just over £4m for his signature in the summer. Antiste has been capped by France at various youth levels and impressed for Ligue 2 side Toulouse last year.
He racked up 30 league appearances with a total playing time of 1,137 minutes; that gave him an average of 38 minutes per match. With that time he scored seven goals and laid on another two. Spezia will be hoping Antiste can replicate something like his goal contribution of one every 126 minutes in Serie A.
4. Destiny Udogie, 18 years 8 months 25 days
In at number four is the Hellas Verona left back Destiny Udogie although he’s actually spending this season on loan with Udinese. The 18-year-old has just made his debut for Italy under 21’s (although he’s also eligible for Nigeria under his dual citizenship).
Serie A isn’t completely new to this attack minded full back, who can also operate further forwards, as he played for Verona last year albeit sparingly. His debut for Udinese will have been one to remember with Udogie playing 57 minutes of a 2-2 draw with giants Juventus.
3. Raul Moro, 18 years 8 months 16 days
Raul Moro won’t be a new name to Lazio fans as he whipped up quite the circus when he joined them for £5m from Barcelona’s youth system back in August 2019. It’s been a while before the Eagles fanbase got to see him in action though.
At least the Spanish winger, who at 5’6 is also one of the shortest players in the league, didn’t disappoint; he came off the bench for a 30 minute cameo in the season opener and then grabbed an assist in his next sub appearance showing good feet and smart awareness to pick out a pass. The lad would appear to have a big future both at Lazio and beyond.
2. Aleksander Buksa, 18 years 7 months 14 days
Genoa signed this young centre forward on a free transfer after his contract with Wisla Krakow expired this summer. His only action in Serie A has been in the form of 45 minutes against Napoli where he struggled to make too much of an impact. That doesn’t mean he should be written off though. For one thing, Napoli are far from the easier opposition to make your bow against. Secondly, he’s reportedly been courted by some big clubs including Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan. He’ll never be a striker that shines on paper with goal scoring not his main attribute; Buksa instead would benefit from playing with someone where his link up play and clever movement can be highlighted further.
1. Luka Romero, 16 years 9 months 10 days
Topping our list of the youngest players in Serie A right now is Luka Romero of Lazio; he takes the top spot by some distance too with his 17th birthday not until mid November.
Lazio took somewhat of a punt on Romero paying Mallorca sub £200k for his services but with a brief nine minute debut making him the youngest player in Lazio’s history it’s safe to say new boss Maurizio Sarri rates him. With pace to burn and a trick or two up his sleeve the Argentinian youth international could be a real wildcard for Lazio as the season progresses.
There you have it, the youngest players in Serie A right now. Who will go on to have the most successful career?
