That juicy VIP List that is the Calcio Italia top 25

By: gianfranco z | August 21st, 2007

Well Calcio Italia put out their list of the Top 25 youngsters in Italy, thank you to the Milan Offside and Chris at the well oiled machine that is the Roma Offside.

25. Marco Andreoli, Roma
24. Alessandro Potenza, Fiorentina
23. Arturo Lupoli, Fiortentina
22. Danile Dessena, Parma
21. Robert Acquafresca, Cagliari
20. Mourad Meghni, Lazio
19. Bosko Jankuvic, Palermo
18. Antonio Nocerino, Juve
17. Dias Felipe, Udinense
16. Anthony Vanden Borre, Fiorentina
15. Cristian Zapata, Udinese
13. Marek Hamsyk, Napoli
12. Ralph Palladino, Juve not sure why they used the nickname Ralph
11. Domenico Criscito, Juve
10. Valon Behrani, Lazio
09. Valeri Bojinov, Fiorentia to Man City
08. Edison Cavani, Palermo
07. Alex Rosina, Torino
06. Giorgio Chiellini, Juve
05. Gourcuff, Milan
04. Ricardo Montolivo, Fiorentina
03. Giampaolo Pazzini, Fiorentina
02. Alberto Aquilani, Roma
01. Guiseppe Rossi, Villareal

The list is very debatable, the only thing that is very true and I am in full agreement is that Inter have ZERO PLAYERS on this list. It is a sad reality that with the squad they have they have zero youth, and no one internally to fill in holes, which is why they will ALWAYS be comprised of 90% of South America. Its pathetic to see and even the few promising youngsters they do have arent even ITALIANS! (Slavkovski/Sweden, Ribas/Uruguay, Maaroufi/Belgium, Filkor/Hungary, Biabiany/) I must say Fiorentina is looking a lot like Arsenal, CALM DOWN EVERYONE! I mean that in their mentality of transfers and developing the squad not only to win now, but for the future, they own some of the most valuable property out there - Pazzini, Lupoli, Montolivo, Vanden Borre, Kuzmanovic, Potenza, Osvaldo, Donadel, Brivio, Mazuch, Hable, just to name a few. If these youngsters can continue to develop this will be a scary team down the road. Then of course there is our beloved Bianconeri, by now everyone knows how much I love following the prospects and Im proud to say we have one of the best groups of youngsters out there. Now after looking at the Calcio Italia list, I’ll show you what needs to be changed. Considering they made the list with foreign and Italian players I will try to do it as well…….

25. Reto Zeigler, Sampdoria
24. Felipe, Udinese
23. Aleandro Rosi, Roma
22. Danile Dessena, Parma
21. Simone Padoin, Atalanta
20. Luca Cigarini, Parma
19. Arturo Lupoli, Fiorentina
18. Fernando Forrestieri, Siena
17. Andrea Raggi, Empoli
16. Anthony Vanden Borre, Fiorentina
15. Cristian Zapata, Udinese
13. Marek Hamsyk, Napoli
12. Raffaele Palladino, Juventus
11. Domenico Criscito, Juventus
10. Valon Behrami, Lazio
09. Antonio Nocerino, Juventus
08. Marco Motta, Udinese
07. Giampaolo Pazzini, Fiorentina
06. Ricardo Montolivo, Fiorentina
05. Domenico Criscito, Juventus
04. Giuseppe Rossi, Villareal
03. Giorgio Chiellini, Juventus
02. Alberto Aquilani, Roma
01. Alessandro Rosina, Torino

Its difficult to put together because I tend to overlook a lot of the foreign players (Cavani, Lavezzi, Meghni, Gourcuff and so on) and its hard to diferentiate between a prospect (Giovinco) or a star (Quagliarella) but later I will have a post dedicated to the young prospects and have a better overall looksy at them. This was just to have my say on the Calcio Italia list.

-Well as reported yesterday, Zalayeta and Blasi to Napoli is official.

-Once again in a shocking turn of events we are back to square one, we now have Aussie keeper Jess Vanstrattan once again. This time coming in on loan from Verona. I dont understand this, what is Ranieri’s obsession with this guy? He didnt even start for Serie C bound Verona last year, he’s not going to make or break this team, I just dont get it.

-Ex-Juventus star Emerson is officialy a Milan player. Il Puma solidifies one of the most experienced and veteran midfields in Europe, great move by Milan.

-Nothing to due with Juve but, Jozy Altidore is SICK, this kid is extremely talented and continues to impress me. In the shadow of Freddy Adu people are finaly starting to see how good Jozy is. He is in a wonderful situation in New York playing alongside a veteran like Juan Pablo Angel, if only Bruce Arena and Claudio Reyna were not on the team Altidore would probably be better. I hope Adu can succeed at Benfica, but for now Altidore is shining and I hope he does the smart thing and moves to Europe sooner rather then later. If it weren’t for Jozy I doubt I would have even watched 1/4 of the Red Bull games I’ve seen this year, but if he plays I’ll keep watching, if not I’d rather volunteer at a retirement home instead of watching Mathis & Reyna.