Cesare Casadei (photo Lapresse), former Inter midfielder and Chelsea jewel (on loan to Leciester)
Spalletti: 'I divine for the national team'
The coach of the Italian national team Luciano Spalletti during an interview with Rai 2, for the special “A year of sport” he explained: “My role has connotations of a diviner: my duty is to watch, observe, discover everything that can make people rejoice.”
Casadei, Kayode, Koleosho and… who are the 8 Italian talents that Spalletti follows for Italy
The coach mentioned the names of some talents he is following from an Italian perspective: “They came out Michael Kayode (19-year-old full-back right back for Fiorentina, ed.), Luca Ranieri (24-year-old left-footed central defender, born as a left-back for Fiorentina, ed.), Luca Koleosho (21-year-old ambidextrous winger of Burnley, fast player with blonde dribbling, has Italian citizenship, ed.), Cesare Casadei (20-year-old all-round midfielder and Chelsea jewel on loan at Leicester, former Inter, ed.) who we had in our sights for a while. Edoardo Bove (21-year-old Roma midfielder, center back or midfielder, very good at insertions without the ball, inspired by De Rossi, ed.) is now a certainty”, he underlines.
Speed and dribbling, Luca Koleosho Italian winger
(born in the USA to a Nigerian father and Canadian mother) of Burnley and Under 21 (photo Lapresse)
Luciano Spalletti adds: “I've liked his attitude recently Lorenzo Lucca (23-year-old striker, first striker for Udinese on loan from Pisa: 6 goals in 18 appearances this year, ed.), and then Matteo Prati (20 year old Cagliari midfielder/halfback, ed.), Riccardo Calafiori (21-year-old left-back defender who can play central for Thiago Motta's Bologna, ed.) who is a certainty on the left and centre, and is ready for the national team.”
Edoardo Bove (photo Lapresse) – Roma midfielder born in 2002:
midfielder or centre-half; is inspired by Daniele De Rossi
Spalletti, Scudetto with Napoli and European Championship at the helm of Italy
2023 ended with Italy's qualification for the next European Championship which will be played between June and July in Germany. But Spalletti had previously won an extraordinary championship at the helm of Napoli: “It was a memorable collective journey on the tracks of dreams and madness: it seemed impossible even in dreams. The European qualification is instead the voice that rises from the bottom of the well into which we had fallen and that shouts to the world that we are here too and we are more alive than ever. It allows us to go to Germany to defend the title won in 2021, but there is still a lot of work to do.”
Lorenzo Lucca – Pisa center forward on loan (with right to buy) to Udinese:
six goals and one assist so far in 18 appearances (photo Lapresse)
The spirit of 2006 when Italy became world champion after beating Germany (the hosts) in the semi-final and France in the final (with captain Fabio Cannavaro then winner of the Ballon d'Or)? “I remember everything about that World Cup: the block created by Lippi, with which I only have in common, at the moment, being Tuscan like him, the sequence of the five penalty takers sure of scoring in the final. Every tackle behind which there was all the the muscle of the team. I didn't see the final: I experienced it with my two children, then aged 14 and 11, screaming at every roll of the ball and ending up in a big collective hug.”
Michael Kayode right back of Fiorentina born in 2004, who can also play the role of winger in a 5-man midfield (photo Lapresse)
Spalletti and the presidents: De Laurentiis and Gravina
“It's like night and day: one is an entrepreneur, the other has always been a football man, it's right that there are different approaches – explains the former Napoli coach and now Italy coach Luciano Spalletti on Rai 2 – It is undeniable that they are both successful presidents, they are doing important things for our football. The thing I liked most about Gravina was that he always put me at ease, showing me respect and putting the values of Italian football and young people at the center.”
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