The 2023/24 Serie A season has played host to some of the best young talent on the globe, such as Giorgio Scalvini of Atalanta, Lazar Samardžić of Udinese and Radu Drăgușin of Genoa, now at Tottenham.
This year, we have once again seen a number of U23 players rise up to the challenge of Serie A football.
The below visualisation highlights three U23 attackers who are having good seasons so far and could end up having a promising 2024, whether in Italy or elsewhere.
Matìas Soulé
First up is Matìas Soulé of Frosinone Calcio. The right-sided forward has the second-most goals among U23 players in Serie A this season thus far; this has propelled the promoted team to 13th in the table. The 20-year-old ranks above average for a number of metrics, with just three other U23 players attempting more dribbles than he has. The Argentinian on-loan from Juventus is having one of his best individual seasons and could very much be involved regularly in Juventus’ first-team set-up next season if he maintains this form.
Valentín Carboni
Next is Valentín Carboni of Monza — another Argentinian talent to recently move to Serie A. On loan from Inter, Carboni has played only just a little above 500 minutes, but in this limited time, he has played multiple positions and shown he is very versatile. Playing most of his minutes as a no.10, he has two goals and one assist to his name.
Carboni’s role in the team, whenever on the pitch, could be explained as someone who is quite often asked to carry the ball forward, draw the opponents towards him and create space for his teammates. This explains why no U23 player in Serie A has made more progressive runs than him. Defensively, he is involved in a high volume of actions. Valentín Carboni is quite often compared to Jack Grealish in the way he carries the ball or Christian Pulisic — it will be interesting to see if he goes on to reach the heights of either.
Zito Luvumbo
Finally, Zito Luvumbo of Cagliari might have only five goal contributions (three goals and two assists) to his name, but he has done more than just find the back of the net, ranking above average for a number of metrics — successful attacking actions (fifth-highest), offensive duels per 90 (third-highest) and crosses per 90 (sixth-highest).
Cagliari might be closer to the relegation zone and may not be in Serie A next season, but Luvumbo will surely be in Serie A or another top division in Europe.
