Serie A pair live up to youthful promise

Atalanta BC and ACF Fiorentina meet in Bergamo on Saturday with each looking to maintain their chase for a European berth and further vindicate the approach to young players that have seen both sides become the envy of many in Serie A.

Pazzini return
Atalanta go into the weekend seventh as they pursue a return to UEFA club competition after a 17-year absence. The latest crop of young players from their esteemed academy has been diminished by sales over the past four years. Riccardo Montolivo and Giampaolo Pazzini – perhaps the Bergamo club's greatest recent discoveries – both now play for fourth-placed Fiorentina, and the latter admits to mixed feelings ahead of his return to the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia. "My focus is only on Fiorentina, but it will be a peculiar game for me because I spent seven important years at Bergamo," said Pazzini, now in his fourth campaign for the Viola.

Midas touch
"We will have to be very careful," he added. "We will be up against a very difficult side with dangerous players though the team has completely changed since I was there." That change is unavoidable for the likes of Atalanta, punching above their weight in Serie A but able to thrive where others have failed thanks to income from sales of talent nurtured in Mino Favini's youth academy. "For a club like Atalanta, working with young players is a necessity," said director of sport Carlo Osti. "We have to develop youngsters and sell them to finance the youth system and thankfully we don't have the same pressure to win things like bigger clubs."

Cherry picking
Favini's 16-year reign as academy director is testament to his success, and although Pantaleo Corvino has been Fiorentina director of sport for less than three years, he is also continuing a fine club tradition for cherry picking talent. "We believe you can find quality in the park behind your home or in Patagonia," explained Corvino. "The secret is to put young players alongside others with more experience and under a good coach: they cannot grow up alone." The policy has borne fruit, notably with the emergence of Switzerland-born Serbia midfielder Zdravko Kuzmanović, though Manuel Da Costa, Ondřej Mazuch, Jan Hable, Pablo Daniel Osvaldo (another ex-Atalanta starlet), Daniele Cacia, Matthias Lepiller and Samuel Di Carmine are not far behind in terms of promise.