Five Italy Players To Watch For At The U-20 World Cup

This weekend, South Korea oficially kicks-off their hosting duties for the 2017 U-20 World Cup. With defending champions Serbia nowhere to be found due to their failure to quality, 24 teams will have the opportunity to claim the crown as the world’s best U-20 squad. For Italy, it is a return to the U-20 international stage for the first time since 2009 where they bowed out in the Quarter-Finals to Hungary. This time around, current bench boss Alberigo Evani may have just assembled one of the most talented squads in recent years and could be legit competitors to take the tournament by storm. Italy will begin their quest to glory on Sunday in their opening group match versus Uruguay and here are five Azzurrini players who will be worth watching very closely throughout the competition:

Samuele Perisan

When it comes to developing goalkeepers, Udinese have hit the jackpot in identifying talent within their youth system in recent years. Simone Scuffet was the first to break into the first-team with outstanding results. Catapulting himself into the national spotlight as a 17-year old starter in 2014, a season of eye-catching performances early put him on the cusp of the Azzurri’s World Cup squad to Brazil. Not far behind him is 20-year old Alex Meret, the former Primavera standout who made an immediate impression at the 2014 U-19 European Championships and recently guided SPAL to a fairy-tale promotion to Serie A. While both have had their fair share of success since graduating from the Primavera, there is another special talent waiting in the wings.

Samuele Perisan is the latest goalkeeper out of Udinese’s youth system to come through the Primavera pipeline. Called up by Azzurini U-20 manager Alberigo Evani, the 19-year old will join Andrea Zaccagno and Alessandro Plizzari as one of three goalkeepers to board the flight to South Korea in the next few days. A year removed from starting 25 games for Udinese Primavera, Perisan followed in the footsteps of Scuffet and Meret by earning a spot on the first-team bench, albeit as a third-choice goalkeeper this season. Standing at 6’2ft, he is comfortable in coming out for crosses and fearless in attacking the ball in traffic. He is also very explosive despite his tall frame, displaying very good reaction skills on his line. It is still undetermined who will be first-choice heading into the tournament however it is likely that Perisan will compete with Zaccagno for the starting role.