Here’s how a Serie C ds works with the goal of growing and bringing out young talent every year.
Alex Casella, sporting director of Pro Vercelli, spoke to TvPlay’s microphones to talk about the club’s goals and the scouting activity that leads him to bring out from Serie C so many interesting talents who then make it to the A league.
“We are going through a positive moment,” Casella admitted. “The club has given a precise guideline that is different from the last few seasons: lighten the loads economically, stay balanced from a budget point of view and enhance the players at our disposal.”
Another aspect that Pro Vercelli has changed according to the interviewee concerns the choice of players. “Several players are in fact owned while in past years where we had many guys on loan. “
“Our goal was to find a coach who would guarantee proactive soccer. If you have young guys and you don’t let them play soccer you risk not growing quality. Of the coaches that were on the market this summer I think Dossena was ideal for our project. He is very good to work with and above all he is empathetic with young people: he has debuted many boys even from 2005 and 2006″.
The ds and scouting in Serie C: “This is how we promote talent “
“Rather than forcing our hand on certain situations to push one player over another, we try to espouse a way of working that we decide at the beginning of the season,” the ds explained further. “For example, the society asks me that young people take the field so that they accumulate minutes. If you start putting too many stakes, you risk thwarting what is the ultimate goal. When we got Sassi we knew about the risk of playing for a place with Rizzo, but we know we have two quality goalkeepers. “
(Messias (LaPresse)
“It’s not about discovering talent. So many people embroider stories about players, while we have a duty to make as few mistakes as possible by investing in players we think can grow and have perspective. At Gozzano we had Zerbin, now at Napoli, and then Messias. When you work with that kind of mentality the good player happens to you every year, then you have to understand who can make a certain kind of path.”
“Serie C is the most formative league in Italy because you can work on so many young people who maybe get discarded by A and B teams. If you don’t find the right dynamics many get lost even if they have great potential. We have to give them time to wait and let them grow.”
“When you raise the bar you get a stink under your nose. We started without winning a game but now we have to continue to maintain this enthusiasm. This is a team that has shown it can stay in the top 10, but we need to keep that flame and motivation burning that is necessary to aim high,” concluded the Pro Vercelli ds.