Edoardo Motta: why Juve dumped him too soon

The four penalties saved in the Italian Cup semi-final put the spotlight on Edoardo Motta. The Lazio goalkeeper was the main protagonist in Bergamo’s match against Atalanta and added another curious chapter to his incredible story, that of a young man born in 2005 inside his dream. the goalkeeper grew up at Juventus, but owes his growth to the teams that gave him the chance to play. The Juventus club discovered him early, at 11 years old, when he was playing in Biella a few meters from home, in Soccer Spartera: after the first years in Vinovo, however, they decided to move him around a bit so that he could play with greater continuity.

OBSTACLE COURSE

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Motta spent the season in the Under 17s defending Alessandria’s goal, while Juve preferred to field the Slovakian Vinarcik (now at Arouca, in Portugal) under age. In the Under 18s he instead played for Monza, together with another Juventus goalkeeper, Fuscaldo: the Juventus club decided not to make the category, in order to allow its talents to compete under age in the Primavera category and immediately aim to make the leap to the professional ranks thanks to Next Gen, which plays in Serie C. With the compression of the goalkeepers available in the Primavera, in the summer of 2023, many talented kids found themselves in Vinovo: from 2004 Daffara (now a starter at Avellino in Serie B) and Scaglia (in Next Gen) to 2007 Radu (who we could talk about very soon), as well as Vinarcik, Fuscaldo and Zelezny, who was subsequently sold to Roma. So Motta went to Reggiana and the choice allowed him to play many matches as a starter.

KEY PASSAGE

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Reggiana also kept him in the first team, giving Juve 50% of the resale even after the sale to Lazio in January: the Biancoceleste club took him for one million, thinking of keeping him as an alternative to Provedel who was promoted to starter with the sale of Mandas. Instead, after Provedel’s injury, Motta surprisingly found himself in the starting lineup and had to quickly make the leap in quality to withstand the pressure of the top flight. So far it has not only held up but has demonstrated its value, also thanks to its cold character, optimizing the path taken so far. In fact, all those more games played compared to his peers, save after save and sometimes mistake after mistake, now give him the chance to pay less for the price of experience. Motta has also earned the Under 21 national team and has no intention of stopping his rise: Juve is following him, albeit remaining on the sidelines, and for now they are limiting themselves to monitoring his growth steps. What he decides to do in the future will depend above all on his continuity.