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10/10 - The Curious Case of Udinese and Giampaolo Pozzo
The Curious Case of Udinese and Giampaolo Pozzo.
Udinese, Granada and Watford - Or rather, Udinese A, B and C?
There's no doubt that Udinese has a fantastic youth setup, with the club becoming a stepping stone for many large profile signings in recent years such as Alexis, Asamoah, Inler and Zapata, but it is the investment by Pozzo into other clubs, namely Granada and more recently Watford which is most thought provoking.
For those who do not know, in 2009 Udinese invested heavily into failing Spanish Segunda B3 side Granada, forming a partnership with the club not unfamiliar with the parent/feeder club system thoroughly used in FM. Udinese continued business as normal, scouting for talent across the globe only now, they were able to regularly ship off players to their Spanish counterpart Granada. Success immediately followed and Granada earned back-to-back promotions into La Liga largely due to the influence of Udine imports and talent discovered domestically via the use of Udine scouts.
Pozzo did not rest on his laurels and quickly looked towards the huge market of England, holding talks with Charlton F.C before eventually setting his purse upon for sale Championship side Watford. An Italian manager none other than Gianfranco Zola followed shortly and the next piece of the Udine puzzle was in place, with promising youngsters such as Neuton and Matěj Vydra joining at the beginning of the 2012/13 season.
Udinese now have at least 150 players under contract, with a large porportion of that players under 24 years of age and it is seemingly only a matter of time before they directly start to reap the benefits of these partnerships. What I believe is that it is only a matter of time before more and more clubs adopt this policy, with greater than ever interest in growing players due to increasing debts and the overlooking financial fair play rulings.
We've seen a recent trend of multi millionaires investing of clubs to great success, most obviously Chelsea's 2012 Champions league title and Manchester City's 11/12 Premier league title, is this a new direction for more modest budget clubs to keep pace? Much has been made of many tongue-in-cheek comments of Arsenal being a feeding club for Manchester City in recent seasons and may the time have finally come for the "shoe to be on the other foot?" Or so to speak.
10/10 - The Curious Case of Udinese and Giampaolo Pozzo
The Curious Case of Udinese and Giampaolo Pozzo.
Udinese, Granada and Watford - Or rather, Udinese A, B and C?
There's no doubt that Udinese has a fantastic youth setup, with the club becoming a stepping stone for many large profile signings in recent years such as Alexis, Asamoah, Inler and Zapata, but it is the investment by Pozzo into other clubs, namely Granada and more recently Watford which is most thought provoking.
For those who do not know, in 2009 Udinese invested heavily into failing Spanish Segunda B3 side Granada, forming a partnership with the club not unfamiliar with the parent/feeder club system thoroughly used in FM. Udinese continued business as normal, scouting for talent across the globe only now, they were able to regularly ship off players to their Spanish counterpart Granada. Success immediately followed and Granada earned back-to-back promotions into La Liga largely due to the influence of Udine imports and talent discovered domestically via the use of Udine scouts.
Pozzo did not rest on his laurels and quickly looked towards the huge market of England, holding talks with Charlton F.C before eventually setting his purse upon for sale Championship side Watford. An Italian manager none other than Gianfranco Zola followed shortly and the next piece of the Udine puzzle was in place, with promising youngsters such as Neuton and Matěj Vydra joining at the beginning of the 2012/13 season.
Udinese now have at least 150 players under contract, with a large porportion of that players under 24 years of age and it is seemingly only a matter of time before they directly start to reap the benefits of these partnerships. What I believe is that it is only a matter of time before more and more clubs adopt this policy, with greater than ever interest in growing players due to increasing debts and the overlooking financial fair play rulings.
We've seen a recent trend of multi millionaires investing of clubs to great success, most obviously Chelsea's 2012 Champions league title and Manchester City's 11/12 Premier league title, is this a new direction for more modest budget clubs to keep pace? Much has been made of many tongue-in-cheek comments of Arsenal being a feeding club for Manchester City in recent seasons and may the time have finally come for the "shoe to be on the other foot?" Or so to speak.
