In a country once so football-mad, club owners are becoming increasingly fretful.
last decade is comparatively small. To put that into perspective, FC Barcelona have spent over €300 million more than they have received on transfers during the same ten-year period. “Italian clubs are nowhere near as heavily in debt as some Spanish or English clubs are and that’s a good thing,” said Demetrio Albertini, vice-president of the Italian Football Association and a former AC Milan midfielder who has been calling for reforms to focus on youth for years. “We have to decide what we want to be: a talent supplier for foreign leagues, or a top league ourselves,” said Albertini. Change in the air Udinese owner and businessman Gianpaolo Pozzo, who like Berlusconi has been in the football industry since 1986, appears to have found a way to make a profit despite the economic crisis. The club brings in young foreign players and sells them off later. In recent years Pozzo has also acquired Spanish side Granada and English outfit Watford FC. Juventus are another club recording profits despite the financial climate, largely thanks to the fact they own their stadium, which is the only arena in the whole country not owned by the local authority. AS Roma are eager to emulate that set-up and are set to start construction on a new stadium this year. The finished article, expected to be ready in time for the 2016/17 season, will look like a modern version of the Colosseum. It appears, then, that Italy’s club owners do have an idea of the direction they want to head in. Megastars earning millions are a thing of the past. In the future it will be young, homegrown Italian gladiators making the headlines, eager to conquer the world of football. Å
A fifth World Cup title will be tough Italian stars Daniele De Rossi (left) and Mario Balotelli must inspire the Azzurri to overcome former world champions England and Uruguay in the group stage. 12