Fabregas points out Italy flaw and makes Spain comparison: ‘Obsession with youth’ | OneFootball

Como head coach Cesc Fabregas has indicated where he feels football in Italy needs to improve, and has drawn a comparison with the way things work in his native Spain: ‘There’s a real obsession with promoting youth players’.

Fabregas on where football in Italy ‘has to progress’

It was a rough end to the international break for the Italy national team, who suffered their worst home defeat in 70 years with a 4-1 loss against Norway in San Siro on Sunday night.

That result confirmed Italy’s second-place finish in World Cup qualification Group I, which means that they will have to go through the World Cup play-offs again, for the third cycle in a row. Norway, who had a 100% win record in qualifying, topped the group and have qualified directly for the final tournament in June.

Francesco Pio Esposito scores for Italy against Norway in the 2026 World Cup qualifier (@azzurri)

Some have argued that head coach Gennaro Gattuso does not have the players available to compete at the highest levels, and others feels that this is due to a lack of opportunities for emerging young players, both at club and international level.

Fabregas agrees with this standpoint, and has had his own experiences that back the argument up.

“I’ll make a comparison with what happens in Spain,” Fabregas said in an interview with La Provincia di Como (via TMW).

“There is a real obsession with promoting youth players into the first team and training them for the national team. It happens less in Italy, I’ll give you an example.

PARMA, ITALY – OCTOBER 25: Cesc Fabregas, Head Coach of Como 1907, and Carlos Cuesta, Head Coach of Parma, embrace during the Serie A match between Parma Calcio 1913 and Como 1907 at Stadio Ennio Tardini on October 25, 2025 in Parma, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

“When I was coaching the Primavera side, I had a team that was unbalanced in certain roles, so I immediately decided to call up two lads from the U16s to the Primavera squad, because they were capable. But that caused a bit of a stir, because disrupting the pathway was not considered appropriate.

“This is where Italian football has to progress.”