Yesterday, Italy went through yet another humiliation: missing the World Cup for the third consecutive time. Italy’s last World Cup match was in 2014 and the last time they played a knockout match was in 2006, when they won the competition. That is simply ridiculous for the second most successful national team in the world in terms of titles, level with Germany. And the worst part is that, for an entire generation, this is starting to feel normal.
So it is important to understand what is going on and why this embarrassment has become recurring.
It is obvious that if the national team looks like this, it is because Italian talent also looks like this. And that reflects heavily in the league itself: Serie A. An ageing league, with little market pull, little money, little export value and top teams full of older players. And I am not even talking about the bottom of the table here, I am talking about the top. The average ages say everything: Inter at 29.3, Milan at 27.2, Napoli at 28.5, Juventus at 27.3, and then you still have Roma, Atalanta and others.
The problem is clear: Italian talent is ageing, there is not enough renewal and not enough young talents are coming through, neither in quantity nor in level. You have a few names, like Pio Esposito, Kayode or Palestra, but it is not enough. And when you compare that with other national teams, the difference is obvious. Brazil, for example, has Estevão, Andrey Santos, Endrick, Savinho, Rayan, Vitor Roque… and even then, Brazil are not favourites for the next World Cup. They are good, but not favourites.
Italian clubs have become a “shelter for ageing players”. They go after players who have already given what they had to give in other leagues, they do not invest enough in the foundations and the cycle keeps repeating itself. Juventus and Como are at least trying to change that, but even there there is a problem: many of the young players are not even Italian. So that does not solve the national team’s issue. Como, for example, have had a good season, but they barely use Italians consistently and that says a lot.
And then you still have rumours like Inter wanting Bernardo Silva and Raphael Guerreiro. Fine, they might come on a free and look like good opportunities, but does that change anything in the development of young Italian players? It does not. The truth is that Italy today cannot attract top players in their prime. Does anyone really believe Mbappé would go to Serie A? Or Lamine Yamal? Or even names below that level, like Rúben Dias or Matheus Cunha?
The change will not happen until there is a clear decision to invest in the national product, develop Italian talent and grow the league around that. Serie A is still competitive, but it is an unattractive style of football, without major stars. And nowadays, people follow players more than clubs.
This is not going to change by signing players at the end of their careers.
Conclusion
Sometimes you need to take one step back before taking several forward, and Italy needs that. Invest in young Italian players, give them time, give them confidence. Will it take time? Yes. But it is still better than continuing in this cycle.
Right now, you have a league losing relevance and a national team without enough talent to compete at the highest level. And even if yesterday’s defeat was not only about a lack of talent, that problem is there… and it is becoming more and more obvious, especially in Serie A.