Insights

An increasing number of young Italian footballers are choosing to continue their development abroad rather than progressing within the domestic system. In recent years, development pathways outside Italy have become structurally more attractive for emerging players. Many foreign clubs offer clearer long-term planning, stable playing identities across youth and senior levels, and more predictable transitions … Read more

Across Serie A, attacking players are recording lower goal output despite stable or increasing involvement in possession and attacking phases. In many Italian teams, attacking structures increasingly prioritize collective stability and positional balance over sustained presence in high-value finishing zones. Forwards are frequently tasked with contributing to build-up continuity, pressing coordination, and spatial occupation rather … Read more

Several Serie A teams are increasingly adopting a three-centre-back defensive structure in both build-up and transitional phases. Defensive organization in modern football is shaped by two competing demands: maintaining compact structure against opposition progression, and providing enough optimal passing lanes to initiate controlled possession. The three-centre-back system addresses this by adding a central body to … Read more

Several Serie A teams are increasingly encountering difficulties when initiating build-up play from the goalkeeper under organized pressure. Build-up from the back has become a default phase in modern Italian football, with goalkeepers routinely involved in the first line of possession. However, when opposition pressing structures are well-timed and compact, this phase often slows progression … Read more