Everyone is reporting the announcement that Man Utd have signed Michael Owen today, but they have also signed a 16 year-old defender from Empoli. An article on Channel4 Italia said: Alberto Massacci is the latest 16-year-old Italian to be ‘poached’ by Manchester United, confirms the defender.
Premier League sides have been criticised for snapping up young talents before they can be legally placed under a professional contract in the peninsula, such as Giuseppe Rossi and Federico Macheda.
“When Sir Alex Ferguson rang me up, I couldn’t believe it,” confessed Empoli right-back Massacci in the Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I had an hour-long conversation with him, in English. He seemed a humble person and nobody from the club made the pressure of an historic side weigh on my shoulders.”
Massacci was spotted by scouts when he was voted player of the tournament in the international Gallini get-together in Pordenone last year.
Still to make his senior debut for Empoli, the teenager has already undergone a medical with United and will fly out on Sunday for his new career in Manchester.
“In life a chance like this only comes past you once, so you’ve got to grab it with both hands. It isn’t an easy decision aged 16 to leave home, family and friends, but I don’t want to have regrets.”
I know its good for the lad to join such a big club, but should Man Utd, and all the other Premiership clubs, concentrate on bringing British youngsters through their system?
The problem is, teams like United are disabled by the FA when it comes to trying to recruit young British talent. There is a rule that you can only scout for young players who live within a certain distance from your club which means that United would struggle bringing in a young player from London for instance. As long as the FA are imposing restrictive and draconian rules like that, then big clubs will continue to look abroad for their future stars.