For years now, Serie A teams have been known for putting their trust on experienced players who are supposedly more ready for the championship. While out of the Belpaese new talents continue to flourish and get good amounts of playing time on the field, Italian clubs seem to have less courage to make their young players debut – with a few notable exceptions.
The most “daring” clubs in Serie A are Empoli and Sassuolo. The Tuscans have an average age of 24.9 years within their roster while the Neroverdi go up to 27.2. Such farsightedness is paying off on the field domestically, while other clubs are beginning to understand that, in order to keep up with an increasingly proactive and fast-paced soccer, they need to rejuvenate their rosters.
In order to be competitive at an international level, they need to accept the generational change at the cost of taking space away from players who have already made their mark.
But, for now, most Italian clubs have not embraced this approach, perhaps because they tend to be too conservative and resistant when confronted with novelties.
The doubt that welcomed the VAR introduction a few seasons ago and, more recently, the clubs’ resistance to the proposal of introducing playoffs in Serie A or playing the so-called Mundialito in the United States during the 2022 World Cup are some good examples of this trend.