I love Cissè.” Ruben Amorim had not yet taken charge of his first competitive game as Milan head coach but already he was furnishing journalists with soundbites and supporters with memes, clippable moments that you just knew we were destined to revisit. Alphadjo Cissè is a 19-year-old attacking midfielder who signed for Milan from Verona in February but only joined up with them this summer, after completing the season-long loan he had already begun at Catanzaro in Serie B. He scored six goals in 22 games there, missing the second half of the campaign with a thigh injury.
Previously he had played a combined 14 minutes for Verona across three substitute appearances in the top flight. Yet Amorim spoke of Cissè like a man who knew something that the rest of the world doesn’t. More than his words, it was the body language: hands rubbing together in anticipation, lip curled at one corner into an emoji-like version of a smirk.
Cissè would start away to Torino the following evening. Within 75 seconds of kick-off, he had taken the first shot of the game: racing forward to hook a Ruben Loftus-Cheek cross into the side netting from an acute angle beyond the far post. For an Italian teenager to make Milan’s first XI on the opening weekend was already a significant detail.
The scarce opportunities afforded to young domestic talent in Serie A has been a national talking point ever since the Azzurri failed to qualify for a third consecutive men’s World Cup. Data compiled by Football Benchmark found that Italians who qualified for the under-21 category accounted for only 3.9% of minutes played last season, while foreign players in that age group took 8.2%: “In other words, young foreign players receive more than twice as many opportunities as their Italian counterparts.” There were signs of a possible shift this weekend. The season began with 21-year-old Pio Esposito delivering a man-of-the-match performance for the champions, Inter, in their 4-1 win over Monza, but he was the exception who stood apart already last year.
More surprising were the new faces popping up elsewhere. Cissè, born in Treviso to Guinean parents, was one of three Italian teenagers on the pitch at the Olympic stadium in Turin, with Diego Mascardi and Alessio Cacciamani, both 19, lining up at goalkeeper and left wing-back for the Granata. The 18-year-olds Matteo Palma (an Italian-German dual national) and Simone Lontani started for Udinese and Parma respectively, and the 19-year-old Mathis Mout for Monza.
Even Como, whose project has been criticised for relying almost exclusively on foreign talent, gave Mattia Liberali, 19, some minutes off the bench. It is far too soon to draw conclusions, but certainly a trend worth tracking. In any case, putting your faith in untested young talent can feel like a greater gamble for a club with Milan’s expectations.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
