I think that would have been true up until a couple of years ago, but this is the strongest generation of young Italian players for about 20 years, in my opinion.
As examples:
Italy U23 selection in 1998:
1975 - Tacchinardi, Fiore, C. Lucarelli, Baiocco, Castelazzi
1976 - Totti, Nesta, Di Vaio, Oddo, S. Inzaghi, Legrottaglie, Liverani, Corradi, T. Locatelli, Di Michele, Vergassola
1977 - Zambrotta, Toni, Di Natale, Grosso, Perrotta, Abbiati, Coco, De Sanctis, Zanetti, Ambrosini, A. Lucarelli, Cirillo, Biava, Vannucchi, Cassetti, Storari, Rocchi
1978 - Buffon, Gattuso, Barone, D. Portanova, Caserta, Comotto
1979 - Pirlo, Iaquinta, Maccarone, Miccoli, Ferrari, Natali, Terlizzi, Dainelli, Bonazzoli, Tavano, Pellissier, Sorrentino
1980 - Blasi, Pelizzoli, Cossu, Maresca, Semioli, Bellini, Marchionni, Gobbi, Domizzi, Mauri
Italy U23 selection in 2009:
1986 - Marchisio, Osvaldo, Abate, Criscito, M. Motta, Valdifiori
1987 - Bonucci, Giovinco, G. Rossi, Candreva, Astori, Cerci, Sirigu, Sau, Acquafresca, Consigli, Dessena, Antonelli
1988 - Ranocchia, De Silvestri, Ogbonna
1989 - Bonaventura, Acerbi, Darmian, Poli, Schelotto, Okaka
1990 - Immobile, Balotelli, Paloschi
1991 - Insigne, Jorginho, Florenzi, Santon, Soriano, Zaza, Sansone, Borini, Destro, Gabbiadini, Bertolacci
Italy U23 selection in 2020:
1997 - Chiesa, Barella, Meret, Orsolini, Castrovilli, Mandragora, Audero, Romagna, Cistana, Pessina
1998 - M. Locatelli, Cutrone, Adjapong
1999 - Donnarumma, Zaniolo, Bastoni, Lc. Pellegrini, Pinamonti, Sottil, Brignola
2000 - Tonali, Kean, Vignato, Plizzari, Bettella, Bellanova
2001 - Pellegri, Salcedo, Ricci, Armini
2002 - Esposito, Pirola
On the topic of signing "young Italians", the likes of Lorenzo Pellegrini, Romagnoli, Mancini, Cristante, Petagna and Gollini are all 24-25 years old.
Obviously it's much easier to judge players whose careers are either finished or mostly complete than it is to those who are just starting, but I see more potential in this group than that from 10 years ago.
From that group you would have been sure Balotelli, Giovinco, Insigne, Rossi and Santon would have gone on to have glorious careers, and others there looked like 50-cap players, but you never know what the future holds. The difference between this squad and that one is that there was a disastrous event, i.e. failing to qualify for the Euros, and then a sea change in mentality with a coach who recognised that this was a talented group and was prepared to play them. Donnarumma, Chiesa, Barella, Zaniolo, Pellegrini, Sensi and Romagnoli have their foot in the door and are now established internationals, and Tonali and Castrovilli are shortly to be.
Couple of observations:
1) How fucking strong Italian players were 20 years ago.
2) Something about the years ending in "7" seems to be a bit more special than the rest.
I also had a look at players born in 1967 - Roberto Baggio, Lorenzo Minotti, Ciro Ferrara, Nicola Berti, Dario Hübner, Luigi Apolloni, Igor Protti, and our legendary
Can't wait to see what the class of 2007 throws up.