Primavera, Futuro players

[nefremo]

He didn't strike me as our next big talent to be honest. Of course, it was only one half of football....but he looked very average to me.

Do Molfetta is the one that did very good in the Primavera last year....I wonder how he'll turn out.

It'll be interesting to see if Pippo will actually use some of these young guys this year. Every summer up until now has been the same, where we see these youngsters in friendly games, and some of them actually do pretty good. But then they disappear and don't get a single minute. I hope we'll put some trust in them finally.
I'm not asking for them to start games or even make appearances every game...but why not let them play 20-30 minutes every couple of games if the circumstances allow it.

[ACMILAN1983]

That's understandable, I've seen him a few times now, but I've never really noticed him much until recently and I do agree that he doesn't appear to do anything particularly outstanding like others have done. I've not seen enough to know whether he's a star in the making, but what I did see and what impressed me was that he thinks when on the pitch, something not given enough attention in the modern game.

Here's something interesting though, the Barca youth coach Jordi Vinyals singled him out for praise in the Youth League last season:

http://www.calcissimo.com/futuri-campion...aghi-34576

http://bardelleantille.blogspot.co.uk/20...barca.html

I think these are games where some other higher profile names were playing (Cristante and Petagna for example).

At this point, I just want us to monitor Piccinocchi's progress, as I think he could be a diamond in the rough.

[ACMILAN1983]

So Iotti, Pacifico & Ely have been sold outright. People maybe wondering why we sold our 3 most promising youth CB? Tbh I've watched all 3 few times and didn't think they were anything special. Luckily for us we've got De Santis, Malberti & new signing Bordi. These guys are miles better and could become first teamer's one day like DES.

Welcome to MM

I've watched Iotti, Pacifico and Ely. The latter two haven't really convinced that they can make it to the very top. Pacifico's biggest strength was his leadership in the Primavera, but in ability and particularly his lack of pace was concerning. Ely if I'm honest I never really understood, he did have a decent year out on loan, but people were talking about him like a new Thiago Silva.

Iotti I think has shown more potential, but he wasn't always a starter under Pippo last year, which I think might be suggesting something.

I agree on Ivan De Santis, he's definitely considered of higher potential than others mentioned. He looks interesting from what I've seen, though I got the impression he might be a little slow (physically built for a young guy though).

I don't know Malberti and Bordi. Could you elaborate on the qualities of these guys?

[reza]

Welcome to MM.
I probably had the most problem with them being sold, because to say 'they are not good enough' doesn't make it better. A team in our shape needs ready youth players now not in the next generation.

[Siregar]

So Iotti, Pacifico & Ely have been sold outright. People maybe wondering why we sold our 3 most promising youth CB? Tbh I've watched all 3 few times and didn't think they were anything special. Luckily for us we've got De Santis, Malberti & new signing Bordi. These guys are miles better and could become first teamer's one day like DES.

Welcome to MM.

You just can't write off the players that we have sold. First and important thing, most of us or all of us do not follow them closely since there are not enough games of them available to watch.

They could turn to players who only play in lower level leagues or they would become some useful players in Serie A. In some cases they show up in major league like Aubameyang, Darmian.

Some players grow fast with respect to their football ability some need more time to reach their highest potential.

[ACMILAN1983]

So we recently signed Francesco Bordi (LCB/LB) from Roma's Primavera. FYI Bordi was considered amongst Roma's best youth prospects for many years. He captained many youth teams & was promoted early through youth ranks (by Montella). He's been signed primarily to fill vacant LCB spot after Iotti's sale. Check out this article goal.com wrote about him aged 14. Hopefully Milan's coaching staff can turn him into starting CB.

"Few centre-backs at the age of 14 look quite as comfortable with the task at hand as does Bordi, who was one of the main inspirations behind Roma's run to third place. Adept on either side when faced with attackers on the run, Bordi shows a great steel in his game. He's also mobile enough to cover superbly in the channels and is able to make lovely clean tackles even when in seemingly impossible positions. He shared the captain's armband with Lorenzo Di Livio during the Scirea, but was a leader at all times."

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editori...entus-roma

Thanks for the info. I'm very hesitant with goal.com articles, but doing a couple of searches after you mentioned him does suggest he's got potential.

Welcome to MM

I've watched Iotti, Pacifico and Ely. The latter two haven't really convinced that they can make it to the very top. Pacifico's biggest strength was his leadership in the Primavera, but in ability and particularly his lack of pace was concerning. Ely if I'm honest I never really understood, he did have a decent year out on loan, but people were talking about him like a new Thiago Silva.

Iotti I think has shown more potential, but he wasn't always a starter under Pippo last year, which I think might be suggesting something.

I agree on Ivan De Santis, he's definitely considered of higher potential than others mentioned. He looks interesting from what I've seen, though I got the impression he might be a little slow (physically built for a young guy though).

I don't know Malberti and Bordi. Could you elaborate on the qualities of these guys?

Thanks

Yes Iotti showed potential but nothing more than that. He would play great most game then screw it up with brainfarts. I see him having similar career to Astori. Seems to do everything right but you can't rely on him.

From what I've read De Santis is considered Italy's best CB prospect. He captain's U17NT and Brocchi's given him Primavera armband. This guy's the total package. Great physique, technique, intelligence and most importantly positioning. Not sure where you got impression he's slow? From videos I've seen he's actually very fast.

Similarly, Malberti captain's our '98 golden generation and U16NT. He's similar to De Santis but not quite as good. Again great physique, technique, positioning plus he's fast. Last season he played RB but his best position's CB for NT. His style reminds me of Vidic (aggressive) so nicely compliments De Santis. The fact both guys captain NT and youth teams speaks volumes.

Bordi as mentioned in article's got great composure and game intelligence. He's also regular for U17NT. Here's a recent game Bordi(#3) played vs. Juventus. Some nice tackles @ 0:40, 3:45 and 4:22.

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Welcome to MM.
I probably had the most problem with them being sold, because to say 'they are not good enough' doesn't make it better. A team in our shape needs ready youth players now not in the next generation.

Thanks for the welcome.

Agree we need youth now but not if they can't help. For all the hate Bonera, Zaccardo get we could be 10x worse fielding Pacifico, Ely etc. Unfortunately for every De Sciglio, Cristante there's dozens of Pacifico's, Merkel's and Zigoni's.

Anyway, we've got several excellent youth prospects coming through. No reason they can't be fast tracked into first team like De Sciglio, Cristante. Only problem is we'll have to wait couple years. That's what Barbara meant when she said don't expect success for 3 years.

Interesting analysis. Admittedly I didn't see a huge amount of De Santis (he's very young and it's very hard to watch games), but the match I saw him in (I think it was an Italy U16 match), he just had a few moments which made it appear his acceleration was a little lacking.

Your point about him and Malberti being captains is very interesting. Thanks for the feedback, I'll try to watch the highlights of Bordi too.

So Iotti, Pacifico & Ely have been sold outright. People maybe wondering why we sold our 3 most promising youth CB? Tbh I've watched all 3 few times and didn't think they were anything special. Luckily for us we've got De Santis, Malberti & new signing Bordi. These guys are miles better and could become first teamer's one day like DES.

Welcome to MM.

You just can't write off the players that we have sold. First and important thing, most of us or all of us do not follow them closely since there are not enough games of them available to watch.

They could turn to players who only play in lower level leagues or they would become some useful players in Serie A. In some cases they show up in major league like Aubameyang, Darmian.

Some players grow fast with respect to their football ability some need more time to reach their highest potential.

Aubameyang and Darmian actually did really well in the youth set up, they just struggled to break through at Milan during a period where we didn't focus on youth.

While I'd have liked to have kept Iotti on our books (I know we have a buy back clause but I would prefer loans), like I said Pippo didn't always start him for Primavera last season and others, including De Santis were starters ahead of him. This isn't likely to be just coincidence.

I do think Jokka has a point on these players. Davide Pacifico was unknown until he played in the friendly last year and while he had a decent performance, I think expectations of him were very high. He's a good player, but I'm not convinced he'll ever be a defender we can count on. Ely I never totally understood the hype on. A lot of the hype was by agents, so maybe that played a part. Not to say he's not a decent defender, but really I don't see him being much more than say Albertazzi, who at this point is a fair squad player and could be useful to give depth, but doesn't look like a future starter. While I'd rather we loan to either see if these guys can step up, I'm less worried about selling them if we have players who offer more guarantees coming through. Ideally, we'd have kept them on the books until they've matured a little, because selling them then might have been more profitable.

As for De Santis, Torino requested him as part of the Cerci deal, but I think we rejected and the player announced on Twitter he's staying put.

[xudong]

Jokka, welcome to MM. and thanks for sharing with us your expertise. Please post more.

[Siregar]

Welcome to MM.

You just can't write off the players that we have sold. First and important thing, most of us or all of us do not follow them closely since there are not enough games of them available to watch.

They could turn to players who only play in lower level leagues or they would become some useful players in Serie A. In some cases they show up in major league like Aubameyang, Darmian.

Some players grow fast with respect to their football ability some need more time to reach their highest potential.

Aubameyang and Darmian actually did really well in the youth set up, they just struggled to break through at Milan during a period where we didn't focus on youth.

While I'd have liked to have kept Iotti on our books (I know we have a buy back clause but I would prefer loans), like I said Pippo didn't always start him for Primavera last season and others, including De Santis were starters ahead of him. This isn't likely to be just coincidence.

I do think Jokka has a point on these players. Davide Pacifico was unknown until he played in the friendly last year and while he had a decent performance, I think expectations of him were very high. He's a good player, but I'm not convinced he'll ever be a defender we can count on. Ely I never totally understood the hype on. A lot of the hype was by agents, so maybe that played a part. Not to say he's not a decent defender, but really I don't see him being much more than say Albertazzi, who at this point is a fair squad player and could be useful to give depth, but doesn't look like a future starter. While I'd rather we loan to either see if these guys can step up, I'm less worried about selling them if we have players who offer more guarantees coming through. Ideally, we'd have kept them on the books until they've matured a little, because selling them then might have been more profitable.

As for De Santis, Torino requested him as part of the Cerci deal, but I think we rejected and the player announced on Twitter he's staying put.

Rodrigo Ely got many games in Serie B his first year loan (he was not sent to Serie C or lower-level league) and he has been there for 2-3 years and he is still 20 years old. Saying the three mentioned new young players miles better than Ely for example is a way over hyping. It is like Ely and others will have not bright future.

Darmian and Aubameyang did well some years ago but still they were not player like De Sciglio or Cristante calibre, they were not got big attention from big club before. Darmian and Aubameyang were not super talent in that time.

The point is we should be careful with selling out right of our young players. Darmian's example is a pain. Really funny but sad seeing how our users he wanting him and he was actually our young player and due to our lack of trust to the talent our young players have, we lost Darmian.

[ACMILAN1983]

Totally agree re Darmian + Aubameyang. They arrived at time when Milan didn't focus on youth. Instead we had WC players and made big signings. If they emerged today they'd be blooded straight into first team. Same goes for Paloschi.

Tbh Milan's youth coaches are good judges of talent. Don't forget they tried signing Montolivo, Xavi, Verratti & Totti as kids. If they sold Pacifico/Ely outright then they had reservations. Think Iotti's been sold purely for playing time. They're unsure so included buyback option. Like I said he may turn into another Astori.

Re Torino wanting De Santis. I've got 3 words. F off Toro! Should be grateful we foolishly sold Darmian Also heard they wanted Cristante lol.

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OK thanks will try to

Most people aren't aware Milan's HEAVILY investing in youth. They wonder why we're not making big signings. That's because we're hiring scouts globally and signing youngsters. We've stolen several top prospects from Inter, Juve, Roma lately. This is only area where Galliani's doing well.

I agree that this is one area Galliani has done pretty well. I think a lot came down to having the right people in recent years, particularly the head scout who has been important in finding guys like Mastour and Cristante.

Youth investment has been significant in recent years, but I've posted in the past and still believe we don't show the patience with some individuals, instead showing too much faith in older players who don't earn a spot. Darmian is one particular example, while Cristante was extremely close to being a second last season. We invest, but we have to show patience and faith to these guys.

Rodrigo Ely got many games in Serie B his first year loan (he was not sent to Serie C or lower-level league) and he has been there for 2-3 years and he is still 20 years old. Saying the three mentioned new young players miles better than Ely for example is a way over hyping. It is like Ely and others will have not bright future.

Darmian and Aubameyang did well some years ago but still they were not player like De Sciglio or Cristante calibre, they were not got big attention from big club before. Darmian and Aubameyang were not super talent in that time.

The point is we should be careful with selling out right of our young players. Darmian's example is a pain. Really funny but sad seeing how our users he wanting him and he was actually our young player and due to our lack of trust to the talent our young players have, we lost Darmian.

I agree saying their miles better is maybe overkill at this point. Point is, they appear to offer greater potential and therefore sacrifices can be afforded and may be necessary. If it was up to me, then they'd be loaned, but if not and the chances of them reaching the first team squad are extremely low, losing them isn't the end of the world.

Darmian I'd argue was as hyped as Iotti coming through the ranks, actually more as he made his senior debut at 16 when we still had guys like Maldini and Nesta. Meanwhile I distinctly remember Aubameyang being a standout player in primavera, he stood head and shoulders above his brothers. Honestly, these guys were excellent coming through the youth system, just that for them the club had other priorities when they came through.

I agree with your point though, as I said the same to Jokka, we need to be very careful in selling the youngsters, as we can't let Darmian situations happen again.

[Acmir]

http://www.football-italia.net/54824/bar...ontroversy

So, we have our own Luis Suarez in Gianmario Comi, great.