For a long time, it was considered odd, especially in the country’s media, for Italians to leave Serie A. When they did, the assumption was they were only going for the money, and that they couldn’t really be truly happy where they landed.
Indeed, nearly every case which happened saw almost weekly reports about a potential return to Serie A.
Now things are starting to change, and Tottenham’s Destiny Udogie is part of that. Many big clubs in Italy don’t give enough importance to young talents, preferring to use them as transfer pawns so they can spend more money on established options.
That was one of the reasons Udogie ended up at Tottenham, with clubs such as Juventus later criticised for not trying hard enough to take him from Udinese themselves.
The 21-year-old has really progressed with Spurs and would have been at Euro 2024, and one of Italy’s better players there, if it wasn’t for injury.
Quoted by Corriere del Veneto, he said: “Udogie has asserted himself in an overbearing way. He’s from Verona, he arrived at Tottenham, fifth in the last Premier League, where he plays football with international rhythms in what is the top championship. We are talking about a boy with a very important engine.”
On Italian youngsters moving abroad, he said: “Surely. When you deal with international football you add value to your experience. You face different problems so you learn to find different solutions. Unfortunately we have few players abroad.”
Nicolato then explained why he thinks that is: “Some people refuse to go and we don’t have many requests. But if we don’t have “appetites” then we need to raise the quality. Let’s look at how many French and English players play in Germany.”
A market for Tottenham to continue looking at.
