Capello: mediocre foreign players are preventing Italian development

Fabio Capello argued Italian football is in a rough patch, rooted in a model that no longer works for at least three reasons: the presence of mediocre foreign players, an overly slow game and excessive intervention by referees. He recalled that in his playing and coaching days Italy attracted the very best—Luis Suarez and Bulgarelli among them—and said that, at least until 2010, the league was a benchmark.

Capello warned that many foreigners now occupy positions in Serie A even when they are 'modest ones', limiting chances for Italian players. We sell the really good ones, whereas once they all came here because we were a benchmark, he said, and without those examples our players cannot improve; failure at the World Cup would, he added, show youth football policies have been wrong.

Criticising a cultural shift in youth football, he noted: 'Now I read in La Gazzetta that there, up to the age of thirteen, results are abolished, so the kids can play for fun.' He contrasted that with coaches here who want to win even with children.

Italy

fabio capello, serie a, foreign players, mediocre players, italian players, youth football, la gazzetta, world cup, referee intervention, player development