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| Tuesday 15 July, 2008 |
| Blog: Young offenders |
| Michel Platini has spoken out on English clubs snatching Italian youngsters from their academies and Steve Wilson agrees with the UEFA President |
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Imagine if Parma had been able to draft Giuseppe Rossi into their squad at some point over the past four years. What if the striker had been able to train alongside Alberto Gilardino in 2004-05, break into the first team with Luca Cigarini and Daniele Dessena in 2005-06 and emerge as the club's top goleador in 2006-07. He may have even been able to score the goals to keep them in Serie A in 2007-08 before leaving for one of Italy's big four in a money-spinning deal this summer.
That is how it would have worked in the old days, a young talent learning the ropes at a provincial team, working his way up the squad ladder before becoming the club hero and earning a move to the big city. However, Rossi's story took a detour in 2004 when he was poached by Manchester United, that same summer the Gialloblu lost Arturo Lupoli to Arsenal. Both teenagers could join the English clubs due to rules that prevent Italian sides giving players under 16 a professional contract.
This summer we have seen Reggina's Vincenzo Camilleri join Chelsea while Atalanta's Fabio Zamblera headed to Newcastle United, and then there is Davide Petrucci. The 16-year-old had been hailed as Roma's new Francesco Totti but was bought by Manchester United for just £200,000. As part of the deal they promised to find his father a job as a gardener, although with Davide earning £95,000 a year at Old Trafford will he really need to get mud under his finger nails?
Let us not forget this is the same Manchester United who have bleated all summer about a bigger club circling Cristiano Ronaldo. The same Manchester United who have gone crying to FIFA with a letter of complaint because Real Madrid has been openly offering sweeteners to him via the media. The same Manchester United who see fit to target a smaller club crippled by its association rules and take advantage of the situation to net a valuable Italian gem on the cheap. Got Hypocrisy?
UEFA President Michel Platini has waded into the debate and hopes to work with the EC to tailor labour laws for football in order to stop English clubs stealing young Italian and Spanish talent - and not before time. Why should clubs on the peninsula waste time nurturing youngsters only to see them stolen just as they are about to blossom? If this trend continues will we see more clubs investing the money set aside for the youth academies in the summer transfer market instead?
It is also detrimental to English football. First XIs are already awash with foreigners and if the youth teams head that way where will the homegrown talent turn? Italy? We already have Kris Thackray - rejected by Newcastle at 16 - on the books of Reggina and preparing for a loan spell at Ravenna in 2008-09. For once I applaud Platini's politics, UEFA are there to protect the interests of all European clubs and Leagues and by fixing this loophole he will again put a smile on Italian faces.
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Whilst wishing to agree with this article there is no way of stopping the youngsters coming over other then trying to persuade them they would receive a better up-bringing and training back in their homeland. Unfortunately at present Italian football can not match the English finance and no matter how much you can offer the youngsters, if an English club feel they have a special talent then the money will be offered and snatched up by the youngsters hoping to obtain financial security for themselves in a career where top-level status is not guaranteed. Any loophole closed would only be temporary until the clubs found another way to stretch the rules. I do hope that some arrangement can be made to stop the tide but I fear what Platini has said will only open the "Platini anti-English debate" again. As for Rossi, United could hardly be accused of removing him from his homeland as he was born and raised in America, coming over to Italy aged 13 when Parma offered him a spot in their youth team set up. Whilst not alleging that they offered his father some sort of financial security, not many parents would move half way around the globe for the small chance of the child making the top grade.
Nick Biondi
English people I know who follow the Premier League are complaining of the lack of Englishmen in thier teams and I know clubs like Man U, Chelsea and Newcastle are POACHING away youngsters from Italy's clubs. There has to be a stop to this. Good for Michel Platini for stepping in.
David Scapin, Guelph, Ontario
I support Manchester United first and Roma second. I agree with the sentiment of this article, but you can't compare it to Real and call it hypocrisy. United have not done anything illegitimate or illegal, it is not their fault the Italian FA have these 'crippling rules'. It is up to the authorities to change the law. Sadly the likelihood of this happening, giving that football is run by such morons in Platini & Blatter is unlikely.
David Taylor
Although this article addresses a valid point, there are a number of key issues that are missed or glossed over. Firstly this is not exclusively a problem between England and Italy; English teams have done similar transactions with Spanish players (e.g. Fabregas, Gerard Piqué to name but a few). The two examples I mention are also between two large clubs (Barcelona, Arsenal, Man Utd) so this is obviously not solely smaller clubs being taken advantage of, although said clubs may be less able to absorb such a loss. Secondly most European teams have been poaching players from South America and Africa for decades and no one in Europe has complained. In fact a number of Spanish and Italian teams have been built on the basis of this one way player traffic. The reality is that different domestic laws affect football transfers in every country. For example in England due to the nature of work permit allocation, Premier League clubs are unable to compete with Spanish or Italian clubs for the best foreign based young talents as they would be unable to gain entry into the country. As a result elaborate feeder team arrangements have been devised to compensate, however this is not nearly as appealing to a young player. If anything this action is more an example of Platini’s distain for the English dominance of Europe. Due to various factors, economic wealth from TV rights, currency rates, foreign investment, Calicopoli etc, the Premier League will be the dominate league in Europe for many, many years to come. This is not good business for UEFA and Platini seems intent on restricting the UK teams from capitalising on their advantages. I didn’t see any such moves when Spain and Italy dominated European football for so many years. Platini is demonstrating an arrogant and stubborn attitude toward the refusal to accept the reality – the face of European football may have changed forever. The Premier League is the new undisputed Super Power and with the new money Russian teams rising quickly, the old guard in Europe know times will be tougher for them than ever and they don’t like it.
Matthew Lynch
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