Udinese

[charlgerber]

I've been a HUGE Udinese supporter for the last 10 years (long story how a South African became an Udinese fan) and finally earlier this year went to the stadium (sorry 1-1 draw with Perugia).

The last few years it has been a big worry of mine that Udinese seems to have more foreigners than the average club and they rotate too often. The squad is also way too big. Shouldn't a club like this with limited financial resources try to build a core of locals and supplement problem positions with clever transfers from abroad? They will never be able to hang on to stars like Helveg, Balbo & Bierhoff. Its good for the finances, I suppose, but on the long run we want to see the team more competitive.

I guess I summed up what every smaller club should probably try to do, but it seems Udinese has more problems than others when it comes to managing their mass of foreigners.

[bestianera]

hi there!
Udinese fans come from where you least expect them...
you raise an issue that hasn't really been an issue at Udinese,except partially for last season; in fact the rate of success in developing foreign players for the club depends largely on their smooth adjustment to the new environment.
if there ever was any trouble it was last season,but only on the pitch as many of them were unexperienced to european football,much less to the highly tactical serie A.

if you consider Udinese is the italian club employing the larger contingent of foreign talent,by far,the situation could hardly be rated more positively

as for keeping a nucleus,this is not in the plans:like it or not,Udinese is a selling club whose ultimate goal is to develop young talent to tranfer to wealthier clubs once it blooms and they can make the higher profit out of it.
this won't change until the Pozzo family will control the society; it's this very policy that has made Udinese one of the rarities of present italian league,as they're in perfect financial health

this summer the club has addressed the unexperience and leadership issues that affected the team's performance,signing proven veterans and great talents like Sensini,Jancker,Jankulovski: these moves should make Udinese a comfortable middle of the tables team,with eventual UEFA cup ambitions,should the team click

Nomvete isn't projected to be an important piece of the puzzle though: in fact once he has recovered from the injury he'll probably loaned out,as the roster already has plenty of forwards