Italy’s Euro 2020 win has seen the stocks of their individual players rise across the board.
With most of the stars that make up an excellent Azzurri squad currently plying their trade for Europe’s most powerful clubs, it’s understandable that they are household names and wanted men in the transfer market. After all, they represent one of the most football-mad nations on the planet.
🇮🇹 Most valuable Italian players (via Transfermarkt):
- 💶 €70m – Nicolò Barella
- 💶 €70m – Federico Chiesa
- 💶 €65m – Gigi Donnarumma
- 💶 €60m – Alessandro Bastoni
- 💶 €55m – Marco Verratti
- 💶 €45m – Jorginho
- 💶 €45m – Lorenzo Pellegrini
- 💶 €35m – Lorenzo Insigne
- 💶 €35m – Domenico Berardi
- 💶 €35m – Nicolò Zaniolo
- 💶 €35m – Sandro Tonali
Roma’s talented attacking midfielder Nicolò Zaniolo had a torrid time with injuries in 2020 and 2021 which forced his exclusion from the Italy squad at the Euros but he’s back to full fitness and still only 22 years old.
His namesake Nicolò Barella’s recently-inked long-term contract with Serie A champions Inter makes him untouchable for now, after persistent rumours linking him with pretty much all of the wealthy superpowers in Europe. Every big club on the planet is definitely still watching Federico Chiesa though, even despite a recent long-term cruciate ligament injury.
This is a man who has proven time and again that he is to be relied upon when he’s needed most, for Juventus and for Italy. Back to Barella; he’s being earmarked as a future captain for the Nerazzurri and indeed for his country and it’s his 25th birthday today!
Another issue that can’t be ignored is the powerful patriotism exhibited by top-shelf Italian players. With the exception of PSG duo Donnarumma and Verratti, as well as Chelsea midfield metronome Jorginho, the other seven names in this list all ply their trade in Italy’s Serie A. Prizing an Italian star away from the country of his birth is not an easy thing to do.
In Donnarumma, Bastoni, Barella and Chiesa, the European champions possess a spine of supremely talented players aged 25 or younger who are already armed with the experience of winning a major trophy for their nation. Add Zaniolo, Federico Dimarco, Moise Kean and Sandro Tonali into the mix, and it’s abundantly clear that the future of Italian football is in safe hands.
Which one of these players should be on your club’s shopping list, should he be open to a move? Italy’s superstars are in high demand, but it’s incredibly clear that the majority of them are perfectly happy where they are, for the time being at least.