Here’s a look at each Serie A team in terms of appearances by players 25 years old and younger. Not to say those are the best or smartest teams, but to show those that are giving youth the best chance to play. We will look at the average age of each roster, showing whether that’s an accurate indicator of their youth movement or not. Also we will look at how the that number looks this year as compared to last year. Last year I wrote this column with just 2 weeks to go in the season. This time we are closer to the way midway point. Also keep in mind the max number for appearances right now is 368. That’s 11 starters plus 5 subs over 23 games. Of course not every team uses every sub. Here we go!
SASSUOLO (242 APPEARANCES BY PLAYERS 25 AND YOUNGER, AVERAGE AGE OF ROSTER 25.5) We have a new leader! Last year Sassuolo were 5th on this list last year but certainly trending up with the likes of Raspadori and Scamacca. AND THEN THEY WENT AND SOLD THOSE GUYS. And then they replaced those guys with even more youth. Last year they finished at right around 300. This year they are on a pace to be over 400. This has something to do with their uneven season. early in the year they were more defensive, trying to sew up the back as they bedded in new players. Now they are starting to bomb forward with the likes of Lauriente coming down the wings and Frattesi holding the middle. This project would look better if they weren’t so close to the drop. Let’s see how they finish the season.
GRADE: B
MILAN (229 apps, 26.5) Milan were tops on this list last year by a pretty wide margin. Winning the league while also topping this last was THE outlier of outliers. This year most of the players that helped us top that list are back. Milan doubled down on that last summer by bringing in almost exclusively young players with the oldest one being Origi at 27. There’s been few real contributions from that group but are already seeing that patience pay in in Thiaw. The only player over 25 in the top 9 in appearances for Milan is Giroud. The only 2 players over 26 with over 1000 minutes are Giroud and Tarausanu. Pioli not a fan of playing the kids? HA! he has no choice!
GRADE: A
SIDEBAR: Many times you’ll see folks flaunt or disparage the average age of a squad. That’s great and all but it can also be very deceiving. Milan is the perfect example of this. If you look at a list of average ages in the league you will find that Milan’s average age is 26.5. That puts us in 5th oldest in the league. Remember though that our backup keepers are 39 and 37 years old. Also Zlatan is 41. If you take those 3 out the average age of the squad drops to 25.2, 5th youngest in the league.
LECCE (223 apps, 24.4) Newcomer Lecce came into the league with a project and, to their credit, is sticking with that project upon their return. Last year in Serie B they racked up 404 appearances by players 25 and younger with current stars Hjulmand and Strefezza amongst them. They only have 3 players on the roster over 30 who have combined for only 298 minutes. They also have easily the lowest payroll in the league. It may not be a recipe for them to win the league any time soon, but you can bet they are in Serie A to stay.
GRADE: A
CREMONESE (207 apps, 25.8) And then you have a team that’s young but may be flying a little too close to the sun. Clearly one of the worst teams to make it into Serie A but that doesn’t necessarily mean this is a fluke. They were wise enough to remain young and not be tempted by going all in on an army of old vets. They will go back down but remain sustainable.
GRADE: C
FIORENTINA (199 apps, 26.2) I wrote this last year about them: ” Hard to have a youth movement when you sell your best prospects all the time. Just in the last 5 years they have moved on Vlahovic, Simeone, Veretout, Chiesa, Bernardeschi and Vecino. There’s got to be a war chest somewhere, right?” I think that still applies. The roster is thin and they aren’t really spending. Last year they overachieved by getting into Europe. This year we are seeing the results of selling all those star players. Staying up shouldn’t be a problem. Doing well in the Conference league means hope, Cabral and Gonzalez included. Jovic? Hard to stay whether he sticks around. Spend some of that money Rocco!
GRADE: C-
SPEZIA (194 apps, 25.7) Spezia were second on this list last year. All those players are a year older and none are REALLY taking off. They are ok, but not great. Selling Kiwor made big money but left them a hole in defense they haven’t solved yet. Last year they had a variety of scorers and this year it’s almost all Nzola. Verdi and Gyasi have gone dry. They spent on Dragowski in goal which was wise but also spent on Agudelo who has been a flop. Their project remains consistent nonetheless. Whether they stay up or not may go down to the last day. If they do go down they would be favorites to come right back though.
GRADE: B
ATALANTA (189 apps, 26.2) Atalanta were 12th on this list last year with only 207 appearances. 9 of their top 11 guys in minutes last year were over 25. They had already moved on some vets and continued that last summer. Now names like Koopmeiners, Lookman, Demiral, Scalvini and Hjolund are getting big minutes. The question last year was whether Gasperini and the club could rebuild and reload again. Turns out the answer to that question was YES.
GRADE: A
UDINESE (171 apps, 24.9) Last year Udinese finished the year just over 200 but already had the pieces in place to get that number much higher. Udogie and Beto are everyday players. Success, Deulofeu and Becao are older at 27 and 28 but continue to play well. Incoming youth like Bijol and Perez are helping to light the way. Unfortunately finishing at 8th or 10th might be their ceiling but with the second lowest payroll in the league. That’s not bad. Weird to say but this is the ceiling for a lot of Serie A clubs. That’s just the way it is.
GRADE: B-
MONZA (158 apps, 26.8) The going theory is that Monza is nothing but a collection of reasonably priced vets that Uncle Fester was able to cobble together last summer. That’s only partly true. For every 30 year old there is a 24 or 25 year old. For every Caprari there is a Pessina. For every Mari an Augosto. What they don’t have are players in that 20-24 year old range. The ones they do have are all on loan. Of their top 13 players in minutes, 9 are there on loan. Balancing that plan won’t be easy, but lord knows Galliani is the man for the job. Let’s check back in this time next year and see what they look like.
GRADE: INCOMPLETE
BOLOGNA (156 apps, 25.4) Bologna continue to rely on a fair bit of vets in Medel, Arnautovic and Soriano. Last summer though they took a huge step in getting younger. Posch, Aebischer, Lucumi and Ferguson were all brought in and are all contributing. Add to that Barrow and Dominguez and that’s a solid core of guys 25 and younger. Also consider Orsolini is still only 26. Replacing those will be key but Bologna have shown they are wise in investing and selling. Moving Tomiyasu and Hickey yielded big money and it has been reinvested well. Like Udinese near the ceiling of what a mid level club can do.
GRADE: B+
JUVENTUS (154 apps, 26.9) Juve’s number last year was well over 300 but that was mostly fool’s gold. Kulusevski and Betancur are gone. Arthur and De Ligt too. Kean? Is he ever gonna be any good? How bout Locatelli? Is he solving that midfield? Youth is fine and all but it has to also be GOOD. Juve fans will hope in a few years we aren’t saying the same things about guys like Soule, Iling Junior, Miretti and Fagioli.Will they get their chance at Juve or will they end up on endless loan spells? Is Allegri really the guy to play the kids and move this project ahead? Hard to say.
GRADE: C-
HELLAS (147 apps, 26.1) A mess last year. They were THIS CLOSE to going down only to be saved at the end. They were your classic old vet squad built to JUST stay up. This year they are still struggling. They have at least found some young help in the likes of Josh Doig at LB from Hibernians and youth team promotee Terraciano. January purchase Cyril Ngonge is already contributing goals. They still have a lot of vets but they are slowly turning things in the right direction. SLOWLY. Will it be enough? Eh.
GRADE: D
EMPOLI (144 apps, 24.7) Empoli were 4th on this last year with well over 300 appearances. This year the number is lower but that is deceiving. Four of their top guys in appearances are 26, which of course means they were 25 last year. That being said they still have youth that are impressing. First among them is midfielder Tommasso Baldanzi who is only 19. Empoli, Spezia and Lecce are all at different points along the same project. Whether any of them can ever push into the top half remains to be seen but all 3 are very disciplined in their approach.
GRADE: B+
TORINO (141 apps, 24.4) Torino were over double this number last year but several of their key contributors to that figure are gone. Brekalo is at Fiorentina, Pobega went back to Milan and Bremer was sold to Juventus. This new number is also kind of a mirage because like with Empoli a lot of their key contributors (Savic, Aina, Sanabria, Lukic) just happened to turn 26 over the last year. This year they have youngsters Ricci, Singo and Schurre making a big impact. Almost every minute and goal for this team comes from guys 27 and younger. They are definitely all in. Juric is doing a fine job as they are a very tough group to play against.
GRADE: A-
SALERNITANA (140, 26.5) SHOULD have gone down last year and might still go down last year. Almost all of their appearances by young players last year were by players on loan (159 of 186) . That has improved this year as most of the youth they are playing they own. Daniliuc and Bradaric are chief among them at CB and RB. It will be interesting down the stretch here how many young players we see as opposed to old vets they lean on for survival, especially with the coaching change.
GRADE: C- but getting better…
NAPOLI (128, 26) Last year Napoli’s number was only 111. They were an aging group that seemed like they had possibly missed their window. I wrote this on May 5th last year:
“Napoli is deceiving in several ways. First of all if I wrote this column 2 years ago they are near the top of the list. The roster isn’t old, they are just 26 and 27 now. I’m talking guys like Lozano, Ruiz, Anguissa, Zielinski and Lobotka are all over 25 now but certainly not over the hill. They are in fact in their primes. Also it’s important to note that those 111 appearances have names like Osimhen, Elmas, Zanoli and Meret next to them. All guys that could be 5 year starters if not 10 for Napoli. With all those guys in their prime ages and youth playing really now is the time. If Napoli do not win the league in the next 2-3 seasons a massive overhaul will have to take place. NOW IS THE TIME! “
How little did I realize how prophetic that was. Kudos to them for being slightly ahead of the curve and moving on vets like Koulibaly and Insigne and replacing them with better, younger pieces in Minjae and Kvaratskhalia. They are perfectly molded with almost the whole team in that prime 24-28 age group.
GRADE: A
ROMA (118, 25.9) Roma are a group slowly getting older/into their prime. Like Napoli almost all their contributing players are aged 24-30. Zalewski is the only real contributor under 24. Even hot new thing Solbakken is already 24. That’s fine as long as the goal is to invest and then move on from guys that are in that age range. It can be tricky though. You can’t have too many misses with that plan. With a coach like Mourinho that’s had a long history of jumping ship that could be playing with fire. Stay tuned.
GRADE: B
SAMPDORIA (102, 26.3) Guess who got older and worse? Guess who made a bunch of moves for vets in January to try and stay up? Guess who’s already had a coaching change? Guess who has no idea what a youth movement is? Guess who also has an army of guys on loan? THESE GUYS! It’s hard to really pick out much of anything here that would resemble a youth movement.
GRADE: F
INTER (89, 28.1) Oldest average age? Check. Least amount of appearances of guys 25 and younger? Check. No mirage here! They actually have more appearances by goes over 30 than under 25. The only team in Serie A that can make that claim. One thing to note here is they do have an army of guys on expiring deals. That leaves a lot of salary and roster spots to reload. They also have a group between 23 and 26 (Onana, Barella, Dumfries, Dimarco, Martinez, Bastoni) that form the core of their team going forward. Investment has been made in Bellanova and Asslani which may yet bear fruit. How they handle all those expiring deals and who replaces them is huge for things going forward. Do they invest long term or bring in more ‘free’ veterans? They are right at that tipping Napoli was last year. Just 2-3 shrewd moves and they take a huge leap. That’s saying something for a team currently in 2nd.
GRADE: C but could be an A by this time next year
LAZIO (63, 26.7 ) Wow. Just wow. They were bottom last year and are bottom again this year. Is there an active policy against players under 25? Other than Casale there are some bit part guys but not much. Marcos Antonio, only 22, was brought in from Shaktar to fil the DM spot but has been used sparingly. The 18 year old Lukas Romero is getting some cameos but that’s it. It’s ok to do this kind of thing if you have veteran depth like Inter or Napoli but Lazio certainly do not. They go about 14 deep and then there’s a cliff. They did survive the Immobile injury but were fortunate it wasn’t long term. If they were to lose multiple starters for a long period they might really be scrambling.
GRADE: D-
CONCLUSION
Again this is not meant to be a power ranking. I’m certainly not saying Sassuolo is gonna be top of the league any time soon. Every club has a different situation, different histories, different owners. Some have no choice but to focus on youth to survive. Others have the deep pockets to be able rely on veterans while purchasing seasoned players from other clubs. Some are established on their paths while others find themselves at a bit of a crossroads.
Finally, these are just numbers…. their meanings are relative. Remember… Raiccardo Montolivo once led all of Europe in Interceptions.
And he stunk.
FORZA MILAN!
Lisi
#IMIT #IPIT