Liverpool’s move for Giovanni Leoni came after weeks of speculation linking him with likes of AC Milan and Inter Milan.
The18-year-old’s switch to Anfield is now attracting criticism as the Italian media once again bemoan the loss of one of the country’s best prospects.
Corriere dello Sport‘s director Ivan Zazzaroni has written a fiery column for the newspaper today and it focuses mainly on Liverpool and how they snatched Leoni away from Inter and Milan.
The journalist explains English clubs know how to create a system which favours the Premier League. Their financial might allows them to sign players from the lesser teams in England and those players stay in the English top-flight.
Zazzaroni writes that Italian football fails at this. Those running Serie A needs to wrestle control away from broadcasters to earn more money themselves. As a result, the league fails at financial sustainability.
Zazzaroni says foreign owners of clubs see players simply as a way to earn money. Italian players are also seen as mere assets. This is described as an ‘increasingly serious illness’.
The journalist believes this major problem in Serie A is one reason Inter Milan and AC Milan couldn’t get Leoni.
There is regret the former Parma player will only be a rotation option at Anfield, when he could have been a regular at a major Italian side.