Why Italian players explode so late?

The striker Luca Toni only got success after the 27 years old..

The Italian strikers Luca Toni and Antonio Di Natale. Two characters of Italian football who were the highlights on last weekend provoked a debate. Toni made his debut for Juventus at the age of 33 y and Di Natale, also 33, scored two goals for Udinese in the thrilling draw 4-4 with AC Milan. Both represent a common feature in the Italian players: they ripen and explode later. It is very common during the youth tournament among teams U-17 or U-20 the Italian journalists claim that South American and African players ripen and explode earlier than the Italians.‘Toto’ Di Natale was an illustrious player unknown until the age of 27 when signed to Udinese. He debuted for Italy in a major tournament (Euro 2008) when he was 30. Luca Toni, world champion with Italy in 2006, played for modest teams until he was 29, when he signed for Fiorentina and was the top goal scorer of 2005/06 season. Then he was a tremendous success at Bayern Munich and was also top goal scorer in the Bundesliga in 2007/08. And to think of him, he almost quit from football because he thought could not be successful…These are examples of toughness, professionalism and simplicity of wanting to improve, typical of calciatori (players in italian language). “In Italy almost every player is very, very, very professional” told me the ex-defender Andre Cruz, who defended Napoli and AC Milan between 1993 and 1999. “There are three sports newspapers and the pressure is constant, they (Italian players) are used to dealing with the pressure” said to me Cruz.

There are many other examples of Italians who matured and exploded late in their careers. Andrea Pirlo become big club player (AC Milan) when he was almost 24. Same age as Filippo Inzaghi got a place to play into the elite of calcio (for Juventus in 1997). The left-back Fabio Grosso, who scored that goal against Germany in the semifinals of World Cup 2006, was World Champion with Italy and arrived at a big club when he was 29! Before that, he never got any success. You also knew that Materazzi played in Serie B until the age 26, and just arrived in a big club (Internazionale) now when he is 28? The unknown striker Dario Hubner, only became news and was noted when he was 35 ( ! ) when he was the top goal scorer in 2001/02 season playing for Piacenza! Yes, there are countless cases like that in Italy. Obviously, there were the early talents who got space and feature as Nesta, Maldini, De Rossi, Totti, Del Piero and now Balotelli, but it is undeniable that players from ‘old boot’ delay to mature and explode into the elite football…

Totó Di Natale: His career emerged after his 27 years old.

Longevity

If on one hand the Italian athletes tend to be late for arrive at top-level football. They tend to build long careers, nearing 40 years old or more than it: Francesco Toldo, Dino Zoff, Gianluca Pagliuca, Sebastiano Rossi, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costa Short, Giuseppe Bergomi, Franco Baresi, Pietro Vierchowod, Giuseppe Favalli, Angelo Di Livio, Paolo Di Canio, Roberto Baggio, Pippo Inzaghi, Igor Protti, Ciro Ferrara Gianfranco Zola, Diego Fuser, Enrico Chiesa, etc, etc…