Why England are an example to the Italy national team – Leonardo Bonucci

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AC Milan and Italy captain Leonardo Bonucci believes his national side need to follow in England’s footsteps and begin rebuilding their team around their young players.

The Azzurri failed to qualify for this summer’s World Cup following a 1-0 aggregate loss in their play-off qualifier against Sweden – the first time in 60 years that they’ve been unable to make it to the finals.

As such, the Italian team are rebuilding their squad for the future, and Bonucci is one of the few remaining veteran players who are part of the transformation. NaijaBet.com

And the Milan centre-back believes Italy should look at how England are using their young players to revitalise their first-team ahead of an international friendly between the two sides on Tuesday evening at Wembley.

“We all need to understand Italy starts – not from zero, but not very far from zero,” Bonucci said, via The Guardian.

“We need to let these young players grow and hopefully they’ll take us back to the Italy we’re used to.” NaijaBet.com

Italy, like the Three Lions, are expected to field quite a young side for this evening’s fixture.

“England have managed to go through transition while still qualifying,” Bonucci added. “England have a group of young players with lots of experience. Our young players don’t have that experience.

“There’s no point looking back. We should look forward. We have a team with not much international experience. You can’t compare our younger players to the English ones.”

The Young Lions

It is true that England are well into their rebuilding process following the retirement of senior and experienced players – with Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand now relinquishing duty to the youth-focused process.

25-year-old Jesse Lingard netted in England’s 1-0 friendly win over the Netherlands on Friday, and 27-year-olds Kieran Trippier, Jordan Henderson, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose were the most senior figures named in the lineup. Henderson also captained the side.

Other starting XI figures included Raheem Sterling, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Marcus Rashford, Joe Gomez and Jordan Pickford, all of which are no more than 24 years of age. NaijaBet.com

Harry Kane isn’t even being accounted for, as he misses out on international duty due to injury, but even the Tottenham Hotspur marksman is only 24-years-old as well.

Even beyond the senior team, the future looks bright for England.

2017 ushered in a period of unprecedented success for the Young Lions; lifting the first ever World Cup at u20 and u17 level, as well as a maiden U19 European Championship. NaijaBet.com

The emergence of young players like Ryan Sessegnon, Jadon Sancho and Phil Foden suggest England’s youth revolution is likely to continue beyond this summer’s World Cup.