Talent calendar
©TM/IMAGO
At the age of 14, the Berlin boy Matteo Palma moved to Italy, his father’s homeland. While his older brother Léonard (19) remained in the Hertha youth ranks, Matteo joined the Serie A club Udinese Calcio. With the move, Palma also made it into the U15 Azzurrini, but a year later the DFB convinced him to change association. Next year, the defensive talent should form an important pillar on the way to the U17 European Championships and make it possible to defend the title at the World Cup.
Palma is always one step ahead of his peers. At the age of 15, he made his debut with the Bianconeri in Primavera 1, and on his 16th birthday he received his first professional contract, which was extended early by one year until 2027 just six months later – Udinese does not want to lose the talent’s qualities to the competition . Palma is receiving a lot of praise both in Italy and in the ranks of the DFB, as well as from new coach Kosta Runjaic.
The German coach turned out to be a great supporter of Palma, who he promoted directly to the professional squad after taking office last summer. During the preparation for the season, the defensive talent was given numerous chances to show himself in the test matches. Palma is a regular member of Udinese’s matchday squad; in the second round of the Coppa Italia against US Salernitana (3-1), he celebrated his debut when he came on as a substitute five minutes before the end – at 16 years, six months and twelve days, he was the fifth youngest player in the club’s history .
“Palma is a young player who impressed me with his physicality. He is a very good boy who doesn’t feel any pressure on the field. “He looks older than his age,” said Runjaic. “I like him a lot, he’s still very young. He played a lot of minutes in preparation. I want him to continue working with the first team. I don’t know when, but I’m sure he will make his debut in Serie A in the near future.” He just has to keep working as hard as he has been doing so far.
The German Palma tower impresses in Italy
At 1.94 meters, Palma has great stature for the center of defense; the Italy experts describe him as a real tower and modern central defender. The DFB junior can also play as a right full-back if necessary. Due to his stature and rapid rise within the club, Palma is compared to Italy’s international player Giorgio Scalvini (21) from Atalanta Bergamo.
“Palma is a very athletic central defender who can make full use of his height in aerial duels and duels. Despite his size, he has good agility and speed. He knows how to occupy space with good timing, play passes and become dangerous in the opponent’s half. He has personality and is not afraid to take risks by playing early, putting pressure on the strikers and building up the game,” says Aniello Luciano, Lead of Content Italy at Transfermarkt, enthusiastically, but adds: “With his right foot , because it is significantly safer and technically stronger than the one on the left.”
If Palma follows a similar path to Scalvini, a heated battle between the Italian and German associations for the talent’s services is likely to break out in the next few years. And even though Palma has initially opted for the DFB juniors, the Italian media never tires of emphasizing that he is “clearly of Italian descent”.
Every day from December 1st to 24th, Transfermarkt will present a talent from the 2007 or 2008 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.
