yeah, it was patchwork team of sorts, but they did very well. Good experience for the boys, too. All young players need to test themselves against decent, recognised teams.
Must agree, we deserved to lose. The game was quite scrappy at times, but so was the school football pitch they were on. Thought the nextgen was getting good support? They could at least play in the training ground of inter or something. Whoever partnered Sama was at fault for the first. Adorjan is getting those goals, how old is he now?
The likes of Sterling, Morgan, Suso and Yesil all progressing quickly at a younger age, there must be big pressure on Adorjan and Pacheco to produce quickly or they will fall behind further. The others named have several years on them.
Think Pacheco may already be past the age of "youngster with great potential" he's what - 21? and yet to show any real promise in the last year or two
Agreed. They're at that 'Spearing time', they need to produce - and quickly! - or be shown the door. Shame, but that's the cut-throat world of professional football.
Gotta say, I was browsing the web just now looking up information on Niccolo Belloni, and came across this post. Made me chortle something fierce. I would go so far as to say our current youth team is SIGNIFICANTLY better than the one last year. Granted, the defense is weaker, the keeper isn't as proven as Di Gennaro was, but the midfielders and strikers are much better. Longo, in this sort of time last season, was a complete unknown (admittedly he's now doing rather well). And, before you get excited for next season, we've got a great crop coming up for the year after too. Let me give you some background: We won 3 of the 4 Scudettos in youth level, only losing (iirc) in the semis in the one we didn't win, on penalties. Won the NextGen series, last year we won the Viareggio tournament, beat the Bayern youth team 2 years ago in the Champions League Youth Final... The Italy youth division this year changed their Primavera rules from allowing players U-20 to feature + 1 overage player to U-18 + 3 U-19 players. This, of course, only applies to the domestic competition, but it is the basis on which Inter form our youth squad. To make up the numbers - since, as you point out, our previous squad was quite old - we've shipped in not just the U17s, but quite a few of the best U16s, too. Approximately a quarter of the current youth team - of those who may or may not have featured against Liverpool, Donkor, Tassi, Terrani, all deserve mentions. Moreover, as part of our overhauled youth system (in the last 6-8 years, approximately), we're the biggest contributor now to Italy U-20, U-18, and U-16 teams. We have one guy who is 15 playing for the U-18s, and he's standing out for the Italy U-18s (scored a hat trick on his debut against kids 3 years older than him). Our youth team is looking rather **** hot right now, if I do say so myself, and this shows. In the last few years, we've produced (and, somewhat annoyingly, sold) over £70 million of talent (Balotelli, Bonucci, Santon, Martins, Pandev, Andreolli, Biabiany just to name a few). Inter will be here for a long time to come now - whether we can deliver our prospects to our own top team is a different story. Also, if I remember correctly, you didn't even have the pleasure of Olsen or Tassi. Enjoy that - Tassi debuted in Serie A aged 16, valued at 5 million euros at 17, and regarded by many in Italy as the next Baggio... Looking forward to the return leg (as a Liverpool-living Inter fan!)
Pandev & Biabiany were useless for Inter to be fair. And Balotelli is a liability, much better off with 24m than him IMO. Bonucci & Santon should've been kept though in hindsight.
No disagreement on any of those, but thats the net income on the last few years for the Primavera. Bonucci I'm not so keen on. I actually prefer Juan Jesus over him, and it was a toss up between Ranocchia & Bonucci at the time. Ranocchia has always been the better one. I will admit I actually wanted both, but given the choice, I'd prefer Ranocchia. Jesus is looking very good, too, and I think in the next generation of youngsters we have coming up (Pasa, Donkor, Benedetti, Caldirola) we'll pull out at least one good centre back. Pandev wasn't useless at Inter, he was pretty vital in the treble win. The season after, granted, pathetic. Biabiany, sure, but we sold him as a counter-weight for 8m in the Pazzini deal. Santon wouldn't have been bad, but he needed a new environment. His last two years at Inter were a disaster and I'm not convinced he has the ability to make it at the top level in Serie A.
