Former Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni feels that the struggle that players who shine in youth teams have in transitioning to Serie A was illustrated by many of the players he coached with the Nerazzurri’s Primavera side.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster RAI Radio, via FCInterNews, Stramacccioni noted that he managed to take the Nerazzurri’s youth team to the final of the NextGen championships in 2012, which they won against Ajax, but that the players did not find life easy in the senior professional game.
Before his stint on the bench for Inter’s senior team, Stramaccioni had done well in charge of the Nerazzurri’s Primavera side.
The team won the NextGen tournament against fifteen other youth teams for top European clubs, and the future looked bright.
However, whilst Alfred Duncan could be pointed to as having made a name for himself in Serie A since, very few of the players in that squad went on to have the kinds of senior careers befitting their achievements at youth team level.
“We know how difficult it is to get young players to make the step up to Serie A,” Stramaccioni said, “and I know something about it because I was coaching a Primavera team who were, European champions, but then the players struggled to find playing time with teams in the top flight.”