Agnelli: ‘Second team? Juve is not a non-profit organization

Italy’s absence from the World Cup in Qatar is only the latest aspect that requires a moment of reflection within our football. Juventus, in collaboration with Lega Pro, has built a moment of confrontation on the model of their second team (the only one since 2018) and opened the Allianz Stadium to the fans (about 30,000 spectators in the Next Gen match against Mantova, record number in Serie C). The round table was attended by the president of the Football Federation Gabriele Gravina, the president of Lega Pro Francesco Ghirelli, the president of Lega Serie A Lorenzo Casini and the president of Juventus Andrea Agnelli. But it was also an opportunity to hear the experience of many protagonists of European football. The synthesis also led to a deadline: within 60 days the new criteria for accessing second teams to the Serie C championship must be clarified, trying to make the project more accessible to Serie A clubs. “With different conditions, 3 -4 teams would be ready to participate”, guaranteed Casini.

Gravina

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It was President Gravina who launched the challenge by dictating the deadlines: “The issue is topical, I’m happy to return to the Stadium after 4 years of reflection, thanks to the vision of Juve which is the only club that has made the second team , in the hope that a concrete answer can be given. We are increasingly witnessing the dispersion of our talent – he said -. The second team project is good for the national teams but also for the clubs themselves. Juve fielded 97 players and 28% made their debut in the first team with good playing time”. On the access criteria: “In my opinion, the project was born in a hurry, this allowed only those who had studied the project to set up a second team – he explained -. We have a great responsibility: to understand if the rules we made in 2018 are still valid or need to be revised, as I believe. For example, the registration fee, the possibility of using players who come down from the first team”.

Ghirelli

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“The images of these four years tell of an initial difficulty – said the president Ghirelli -. We need to see what happens in other parts too: I’m thinking of the French system, which led them to win the World Cup. It is clear that another step forward is needed. Beyond the cost, which we can talk about, or based on the number of teams that will join, many clubs don’t enter because they don’t have the stadium for the second team to play. Compared to the past, however, we have already made some changes: we have raised the number of appearances in the season to 25, compared to 5 in the first year”.

Mess

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In representing the mood of the Lega Serie A clubs, president Casini explained how it “has emerged that the Italian model is different and less flexible than others. It’s true, already this year there have been improvements in the possibilities of using the players, to register for the championship you need one million and 200 thousand euros. Juve for better or for worse is an exception, as well as in women’s football, because it has invested more than others, but if we want to broaden the stakes, the current criteria need to be reviewed. There are 3-4 clubs that would be ready under different conditions, teams with a high number of loans. But the economic issue is the biggest deterrent”.

Lambs

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“If I look back over these years, we are not talking about innovation. It’s about copying what others have done well. Surely the project is important for Juve for the purposes of sustainability, also because the initial period of a player who arrives in the first team then affects a lower salary – the reconstruction of the president Andrea Agnelli -. We followed the project with great tenacity and beyond the elements that could be perfected, a point of discontinuity was needed to make the second teams a reality. It was Costacurta who wanted them: at the time I heard from Cherubini and decided to start the project right away. In freshman year, there was a group with youngsters who were neither fish nor fowl. We knew it would take 3-5 years to reap the fruits of our work, we are at 4 and we are starting to see them. You need a scouting base, training up to the Under 19s and maturation in the second team for the transition to first. Last year Miretti played in the first team, Under 23 and Youth: he plays with us from the Under 8 and lives the path normally. Instead, when a 17-18 year old arrives with other expectations, we need to support him differently”. Agnelli then added: “If we think of a club like Juve, look in history how many players have risen from the youth sector to the first team. It’s not a non-profit organization, it doesn’t do it for the national teams. Italy has about 450 loans, England has about 150, the other countries 20-30. It is an objective fact. With the second teams, the best keep up, improve and arrive. We also need to create conditions. We participate in Lega Pro Assemblies and we do not have the right to vote. A second team can risk relegation, it can happen: and if it happens where do we put the players? The second team allows you to reduce the costs of the first team. I have the economic advantage”.

Morata and Khedira

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Video messages also from two former Juventus players, Morata and Khedira. “My experience (at Real Madrid) was important because in the second team you prepare yourself to play matches of a certain level. You get used to it and you know you’re just a small step away from the first team,” said the striker. In the same vein the former midfielder: “My experience at Stuttgart was positive thanks to a different transition period from youth football. In the second team there is a mix with more experienced players and also the possibility of making a top-level championship”. Present in the room were the former sporting directors of Juve’s Under 23 team, Filippo Fusco and Claudio Chiellini, and the coach Lamberto Zauli. But also Rafa Benitez: “As a boy, I played for 10 years in the Real Madrid youth sector, but an injury didn’t allow me to go to the second team. They sent me on loan and I got lost. As Real Madrid’s Primavera coach, on the other hand, I won three titles but the move to the first team was too large. The right internal path allows you to train players like Raul and at that point the value is greater than anything else”. While the ds of Juve Federico Cherubini, recalled how “we started 10 years ago to talk about the second team, 5 years ago we managed to sign up and today we are reaping the first fruits”.