Italian Football Thread

Antonio Cabrini. Moreno Torricelli. Antonello Cuccureddu. Lilian Thuram. Andrea Fortunato. Wonderful memories, beautiful players and merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the pantheon of great full-backs to wear the famous black and white shirt of Juventus. Yet ask any close observer what the clubs main problem has been over the past few years and - aside from a few who blame Amauri - the majority would tell you that it is the lack of adequate cover in the very same positions.

Perhaps no player sums up the disappointment of last season more than Marco Motta; brought in from Udinese with expectations of being able to excel and realise the potential he had shown briefly at Roma. Instead he went from being part of Cesare Prandelli's first Italy squad, to sitting on the bench while an 18 year old central defender played in his position. That Frederik Sørensen not only had no professional experience whatsoever and spoke almost no Italian only serves to reinforce the point.

Indeed since the sale of Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta to Barcelona five years ago, the list of players to follow in their World Cup winning footsteps is frightening reading for any fan of the Bianconeri. Jonathan Zebina, Cristian Molinaro, Zdenek Grygera, even Fabio Grosso has been nothing short of horrific for much of his time in Turin. Last year Beppe Marotta, the clubs Direttore Generale, prioritised other areas and tried to patch up this part of the team rather than invest financially in repairing it.

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There is always a danger of forgetting players who become injured and miss a season. There is also the danger that a given player in such a situation might forget the talent they have displayed before, never quite reaching the heights shown previously. In the case of Stevan Jovetic, should the talent develop as remembered, then this season could well see the emergence of a new superstar in the world of Calcio.

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