Obviously my views on the players being poached is well known, the attraction is clear for some of them as they have a chance to train at great teams and earn lots of money, so good luck to them and hopefully they have made the right choice for their careers. I'll use this thread to keep an eye on them, anyone feel free to add info.



Michele Fornasier


Alberto Massacci


Davide Petrucci


Federico Macheda


Fabio Borini


Jacopo Sala


Vito Mannone


Davide Ferrari


Marcello Trotta


Andrea Zola

There is also Giuseppe Prestia who is at Chelsea, but we won't see him for a while as he is only 15.

Obviously Macheda and Mannone have already made some kind of impact in the PL and Borini made his debut as a sub for Chelsea against Wolves.

Jeez

If Neville can play for Italy so can I.

That's Massacci

not one italian stands out in the prem..

Hardly surprising with 7 kids, Dossena, Cudicini and Diamanti lol

Rafa has ruined Aquilani as well.

He is the best player by far, so surely has the best chance.

Marcello Trotta

http://www.fulhamfc.com/MatchAndTeam/Playe...elloTrotta.aspx

Nice find, so they have him coming through their academy?

no he was at napoli sub-16

It's quite annoying trying to track the progress of young goalkeepers because you really cant tell if they will peak late or if they are already nearing as good as they will be. I would say Mannone needs a better teacher to progress as currently
he won't learn a great deal from Munia, but he has time and I wouldn't mind if he stayed as our 2nd choice and got games every now and again.

LOL so they even cover up poaching at Fulham!

using FM and google to search but found QPR have 2 italians

Matteo Alberti - last club was Chievo
http://www.qpr.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0...3~43753,00.html

Christian Nanetti - from ??, plays for QPR youth team
http://www.qpr.co.uk/page/YouthReports/0,,...1369141,00.html

he looks good maybe i will get him

Alessandro Diamanti

http://www.whufc.com/articles/alessandro-d...m_2228487_44406

I was really only including young Italians in the PL, so good spot on Ferrari.

Petrucci hitting the heights

Manchester United starlet Davide Petrucci has recovered from his groin and hip injuries and is fast making a name for himself in the reserves.

The playmaker was controversially signed as a 16-year-old in 2008 from Roma, where he was seen as Francesco Totti's heir.

United paid £200,000 compensation and Il Romanista, declared at the time that the Premiership side had stolen him and he would be worth ten times that amount by 2012.

Whatever the circumstances, he arrived in he has certainly settled in well and is highly regarded by his various coaches at Old Trafford.

“Davide is an all-round midfield player,” said youth Coach Paul McGuiness. “He does a bit of everything: he can win the ball, distribute it well, a good range of creative passing and he has a hell of a shot on him.

“He likes to shoot as well and he has the potential to score plenty of goals from midfield, either with a long range shot or bursting into the box to score with his feet or from a header.”

Meanwhile reserve team boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “He is technically and tactically very gifted. He scores some great free kicks and goals.

“He scores the kind of goals you would put on a DVD because he is capable of the spectacular.”

Football Italia

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Nice to see Man Utd's £200,000 has been well spent lol.

Personally I don't really view this as such a good thing. It's true that the training the players will get at Man Utd and the like is better than what they'd get at tiny clubs like Pordenone or Vicenza or whatever the case may be, but at the same time, in Italy they learn the Italian game, whereas in England they'll be learning the English game from English coaches. Is that really what we want? Our best young players being raised by pace-obsessed ball-hoofers? Joking at least to a certain extent about that, but still, I think it's better for young players to learn the game in their own country.

Exactly The world champions all played in Italy, and look how all of the guys abroad have decreased in standing.

thats why English football has been dominating Europe where as Italian clubs have been wank

Don't get me into that argument... I've only been a member for about 20 minutes, don't want to get myself banned already. lol

Dominates because of foreigners