The latest link between Newcastle United and Italian football legend Franco Baresi has been announced, and it's very much a double edged sword for the Tyneside club. Baresi - and his company Azzurri Sports Management - will be heading up AC Milan's regional schools of excellence in the UK, and Newcastle and Tyneside are at the front of the pack. Baresi has already worked with the club, setting up a coaching excellence course and also being heavily involved in Steve Harper's testimonial. Milan will be setting up a school of excellence, as well as summer camps for boys and girls of all ages, with the base in the North-East. They will allow young talents in the region to be coaches by fully trained AC Milan coaches, which will clearly be a plus point for emerging talent, but it adds something of a challenge to Newcastle's own quest to scour the region for talents. You have to suspect that the club will work closely with the camps in order to help spot talents themselves - though presumably Milan will have scouting presence to cherry-pick the best prospects and invite them over to Italy. The history of Geordies in Italy extends about as far as Gazza, but the lack of emerging regional talent since then clearly hasn't put Milan off. Like Newcastle, their more frugal approach to talent acquisition has come from a lack of available funds, though they've clearly not adopted the local only policy that Newcastle seem to have. Clearly, they've seen how well Paul Dummett shackled Raheem Sterling against Liverpool and want a slice of the action.
