Gasperini: ‘Italian youth academies should learn from Barcelona’

Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini believes the problem with Italian football is that youth academies focus on physicality rather than technique. ‘We should learn from Barcelona.’

The tactician spoke out at the assembly of industry figures in Bergamo, where he was giving a talk on his success with the club.

With a minimal budget and running at a profit, he has taken Atalanta to Champions League qualification in five of the last seven seasons, winning the Europa League trophy in 2024.

Among the many reasons to give credit to La Dea, they also have one of the most prolific youth academies in Italian football.

Gasperini wants changes in Italian football academies

“The aim for Atalanta is above all to create value with players, more than to win trophies,” said Gasperini.

“I started out at youth academies and have always worked with clubs who base their strategy on young players. However, we make a big mistake in Italian football, because professional clubs tend to choose players who are a little taller or bigger than the others. That doesn’t help to create champions and we end up with teams full of overseas players.

“On the other hand, Barcelona tend to develop players who are ‘normal’ on a physical level. That’s apart from Lamine Yamal, who is phenomenal. In Spain, they respect the characteristics of a Mediterranean nation and that means focusing on technique rather than physicality.”

Gasperini also sees other problems in the way that Italian football tends to treat its players who are coming up through the system, starting from the very beginning.

“One of the mistakes we make in Italy is demanding results straight away from kids rather than giving them the freedom to play, make mistakes, enjoy themselves and learn. At the age of six, you already have tournaments with parents beating each other up in the stands. Physicality is given the preference over everything else.”

Atalanta have several youth academy products in the first team, including Marco Carnesecchi, Giorgio Scalvini, Marco Palestra and Matteo Ruggeri.