The news on the block is that Antonio Conte, Juventus former player and coach extraordinaire, has agreed to coach the national team – but that has all been reported already. The less well publicized (but almost as important) news is that he is taking over the youth Azzurri selections as well – possibly to keep him just as manically occupied as he was at Juve – an appointment which turned more than a couple of heads. After all, why not continue to keep the two jobs separate? And is Conte the man for the job?

Let’s begin by taking a look at the current Juventus squad which is largely untouched since Conte left – if anything, the old have gone out (Vucinic, Quagliarella) and the young swooped in. Yet the current average age at this point in the transfer window is still no less than 28.4 years old, an increase of around six months on the champions of 2013 (also Juventus, also Conte). When they won it last year, the bianconeri were the fifth oldest team (out of twenty) in the league.

Now of course Juventus is famous for its penchant for hanging onto older stars past their sell-by date, and has been that way since the 1930s. However, it is not just a case of the veterans outweighing the newbies. There has actually been a drought of young, regular starters in the Juventus lineup recently; a problem which Conte did not seem to give much thought to.

In Conte’s first year of tenure, there were a few key players then aged 24 or 25 who have now become household names and in some cases global stars; Marchisio, Vidal, Bonucci and Caceres still form part of the Juventus backbone week-in, week-out. However, as these players have aged, new youth projects have not been signed in their wake; Asamoah and Isla were signed in the second year, as well as Manolo Gabbiadini (who was promptly sent on loan) and Simone Zaza.

Gabbiadini and Zaza are exemplar for how Juventus seems to treat youth players – almost twenty co-ownership deals for young talents, including Daniele Rugani and Domenico Berardi, were allowed to remain at their clubs for another year instead of being allowed a chance at the Old Lady setup.

One case in hand that might worry the national youth team is Luca Marrone. After a career with the Italian U21s he was signed by Juventus and instead of being lent to another team, Marrone was kept in the squad. He made 30 appearances in Serie A across three seasons – only eight full ninety minutes – and is thoroughly at the bottom of the pecking order behind Pirlo, Vidal, Marchisio and Pogba. This made Pogba the only regular first team player under the age of 25 in last year’s roster (compared to Roma’s six week-in week-out U25s) – and let’s be honest it would have been a crime to omit Pogba. Angelo Ogbonna is another instance of a young signing who didn’t live up to his expectation – and didn’t get much play time under Conte.

Conte left in his legacy an apparent signal of intention to work with younger players next season by signing – or doing the marketing legwork for – Kingsley Coman (“the new Pogba”) and Alvaro Morata, both 21 or under. His last season in charge was also marked by a series of poignant gestures for under-fire Sebastian Giovinco who is in some ways the Peter Pan of the team – he refuses to grow up. Not just in terms of height (the nickname Atomic Ant says it all) but also in performance, where he has never held down a regular starting role, nor dazzled in substitute performances.

However Conte has always been a strong believer in the pint-sized attacker, continually issuing statements of confidence such as “he is gaining confidence in his own abilities” and memorably embracing Giovinco openly when the fans were whistling at yet another disappointing performance before letting him (against normal house rules) go straight to the changing rooms. Such actions do indicate that Conte is not totally averse to persevering with rough young diamonds but at 27 Giovinco needs to leave the nest and Conte’s absence in the dressing room will surely make or break.

Many Juventini believe it is time for a transfer and were puzzled by Conte’s dedication to Giovinco which mirrored a few unexplained selections in the Nazionale by Prandelli – for example, an unusual attachment to Alberto Aquilani and Gabriel Paletta which did not go down well with fans. It will be interesting to see whether Conte develops any such attachments in his new role, or whether he will (like Lippi) stick with the old crowd – now populated Barzagli, Pirlo and Buffon – beyond what is reasonable.

For some, Cesare Prandelli’s main strength as Azzurro coach was picking out budding stars and propelling them into the careers that they deserved through a senior Nazionale selection, and the stats are impressive; almost every single young player that he has picked out got a big-money transfer the same year or the following summer. Ciro Immobile, Marco Verratti and Matteo Darmian among others were all catapulted into the international spotlight thanks to the phone call from Prandelli, whose World Cup squad wasn’t even in the top 10 oldest teams. It included a huge number of major competition debutants who were often chosen in favour of more seasoned players; notably, Alberto Gilardino was left out in favour of a younger face.

In comparison, Marcello Lippi’s World Cup squads in 2006 and 2010 both trumped Prandelli’s selection in terms of age - the Berlin champions averaged 29 years of age and their successors 28.4. A more mature selection is not necessarily conducive to squad stagnation, then – if anything the figures favour the elder team. Indeed, Jose Mourinho’s Inter won the treble with an average nigh on thirty years old.

So the problem – if there is one – is certainly not performance standard, and consider that Conte has a track record of working well with a slightly aged squad. The only thing to watch would be whether he has Prandelli’s foresight to upgrade Immobile, Insigne and future Italy U21 stars to the main squad, thereby accelerating their path to maturity. From the figures of his time with the bianconeri it seems that the young cohort will have their work cut out as never before to turn the Azzurri manager’s head.

Bear in mind however that with the new responsibility of supervising youth selections, the man from Lecce will have a great level of exposure to the talents bouncing around there; greater exposure than Prandelli had and far greater than Juventus could offer. In addition, rumour has it that 21 year-old Marco Verratti is one of the starting points of the new-look Italy XI, news which should indicate a positive outlook on that age band of players in the years to come.

Tricky one to call, but I believe that the increased responsibility will only help grow Conte’s already titanic mental database of ‘who does what best, and where are they’; plus, if he does keep on track with an experienced first-team selection, history (his personal history as well as Italy’s) is on his side. Have they chosen the right man for the job? Definitely. But is the job right for any man? It’s brave, I like it and if anyone can do it, Antonio Conte can.