Bettella: "Great to see so many Inter lads at Italy U17 level"

MILAN – Inter’s 16-year-old defender Davide Bettella has spoken of his pride at seeing so many Nerazzurri players called up for international duty.

Bettella is one of a host of Inter players to have made the step up from the Italy U16s to the U17 set-up led by Emiliano Bigica, with impressive numbers of Nerazzurri youngsters regularly called up to all the various age groups.

"It’s great to be able to share the national-team experience with so many team-mates," says Bettella, who captained Italy U17s in Tuesday’s friendly with Austria. Fellow Inter players Niccolo Corrado, Davide Grassini, Elia Visconti and Davide Merola were also involved in the game, which took place in Coverciano.

"Playing together on a regular basis is a massive advantage because there are big challenges ahead with the national team and at club level. We need to give our all and try to improve in every single training session," adds the Nerazzurri youngster.

Indeed, hard work has been central to the 16-year-old’s approach since his very first day at Inter.

"I joined Inter in the 2014/15 season and we were able to win the Giovanissimi Nazionali championship straight away," he says. "I never thought I’d be able to win the league in my first year, but after the first week of pre-season with my new team-mates I knew that the group had something special. We all believed we could do it and worked hard every single day to achieve our ultimate goal."

Basella’s dream is to replicate that success with the U17 team.

"The expectations are high, but that’s to be expected when you play for Inter," says the defender. "We’ve won ten of our last 11 league games, but we need to keep working hard to try to win every match."

The youngster is also keen to continue his adventure with the national team.

"Our next objective is the Elite Round of the Euros," he explains. "We want to qualify for the final tournament in May."