Rivera: 'Ronaldinho not motivated anymore, Cassano chose not to play'
Gianni Rivera talks about the future of Italian football. The chairman of the Youth and Scholastic section of the FIGC spoke exclusively to Calciomercato.com at the World Football Show.
Have you already noticed some change in our clubs at youth level?
"We will start to see some guys chosen more for technical reasons than physical. It is easier to make a technically good player a good athlete than the reverse. We are trying to make a contribution at Coverciano and with the training schools".
How many years will it take to see an Italian team full of home-grown products like Barcelona?
"We cannot know this; at the beginning Barcelona didn’t even know this. We have to work in the youth sector, hoping that everything goes according to expectations. Then if you're lucky you get a better result, we won’t know for another few years".
Two number 10s in crisis, Ronaldinho and Cassano.
"Cassano is not playing by his choice, so you can not comment on a situation that happened in an unpredictable way. Antonio is an asset like any other player. Ronaldinho is a player who perhaps is already satisfied with what he has done in his career; he may have decided to put less effort into getting chosen by the coach".
