Talent calendar
The Italian goalkeeping school is recognized worldwide, which is reflected in the fact that some of today’s most valuable professionals have benefited or are still benefiting from it – from Gianluigi Donnarumma and Mike Maignan to Alisson to Guglielmo Vicario. So it is no coincidence that shortly before the retirement of one of the best goalkeepers in recent football history, Gianluigi Buffon, a young student from the same “academy” was tested for the first time by the “Squadra Azzurra”: Tommaso Martinelli. Albeit only exceptionally and due to favorable circumstances, as the 17-year-old was named among the players of “national interest” by former Italy coach Roberto Mancini for an internship at the end of 2022. However, the skills and talent of Martinelli, who was born and raised just a few kilometers from the Azzurri’s training center in Coverciano, goes far beyond such territorial boundaries.
The Tuscan native made his first appearances on the soccer field as a center forward. Martinelli rose through the ranks of US Sales, an amateur sports club in Florence, benefiting from his considerable height for his age. He was good at that too, but there was more to those centimeters, now at around 195, something that can shine even brighter since he moved many meters further back on the field to a different area. Enio Quintavalle, the club’s leader and honorary president of APPOR, the Italian association of goalkeeping coaches, was aware of this. It was his suggestion that changed the career of the young Martinelli, so much so that he himself will remember his mentor, who died in September 2016, with a tattoo on his arm.
A very close bond that never broke, not even when Fiorentina, who brought him in at the age of ten, recognized his unique abilities. Martinelli trained daily first with the viola and then rushed to those who had raised and pampered him from an early age to continue working on himself. It was also these double lessons that developed the right-footed player’s special abilities: positioning and composure, quick reading of situations and good use of his feet make him the future of the club and the Azzurri today.
“It all happened so quickly,” Martinelli said in one Video interview on the Fiorentina website. “I skipped two steps (to get into the Primavera – the U19s; editor’s note). The first call-up to the senior national team was crazy. I met with the U17 coach and received a message from a club organizer […] and I almost burst with joy.” Similar to January 25, 2023, when he snatched the 2022/23 Supercoppa Primavera from Inter Milan. “That was my first trophy,” he added happily.
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Looking back over a long career, this can probably be described as something temporary, normal for those who don’t pay attention to the years on their ID card. But it is something special for the young talent and revealed Martinelli’s talent against players like today’s professionals Valentín Carboni and Mattia Zanotti. At the age of 17, he has already outgrown the youth department: after 25 appearances last year, this season there are only two in the Primavera 1. Martinelli is now a regular part of the professional squad, trains under head coach Vincenzo Italiano and is a regular in Serie A Bank. The first use for the viola professionals will only be a matter of time. The eternal Gigi Buffon had this for Parma in November 1995, aged 17 years and nine months.
Every day from December 1st to 24th, Transfermarkt will present a talent from the 2006 or 2007 vintage from a different country. Sponsors, data scouts and users act as experts and report interesting facts about 24 young players in our talent calendar who you should keep a close eye on in the future. For example with the TM watchlist.
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