Nineteen years on the bench in Serie A! Who is the young Cech in Frosinone?

The Czech colony abroad has been growing steadily in recent years. The German Bundesliga has become a very popular destination, while the Italian Serie A also remains in the background. There are currently four players from the Czech Republic. However, they could soon be joined by Daniel Macej, a 19-year-old stopper.

We are already used to seeing Antonín Barák, Jakub Jankt, David Zima and Lukáš Vorlický on the Apennine Peninsula. Daniel Samek is still waiting for his chance. But unfortunately, neither of the players is the cornerstone of his team’s lineup yet.

Czech fans are quite used to these names, as they are often talked about. However, in the first round of the Italian top flight in the match between Frosinone and Napoli, another compatriot Daniel Macej appeared on the bench of the home team.

Macej is a product of Baník Ostrava, where he passed through the youth categories and went to Frosinone as a free agent in 2022. He had already completed his training with the A-team a year ago, but during his first year in Italy he only played for the U19 team, which plays Primavera.

He was involved in the preparation with the main team this year, although in the games against Salernitana and Cosenza he only stayed on the bench. He was also on the bench in the first round of the Coppa Italia and, perhaps a little surprisingly, just in the first round of Serie A.

If he had already started to pick up minutes in the premier league this season, he could have featured in one of the youth categories of the national team. The last time he did that was in the U16 category.

After Krulich and Grygar, who returned from Italy back to the Czech Republic this year, Macej shows that even on the Apennine Peninsula it is possible to break through from the academy to the first team.

Despite the fact that he will probably have to wait a while to become a regular in the starting line-up, his debut is a real possibility. He would expand the Czech Republic’s footprint in Serie A.

Sources: Frosinone Calcio, Transfermarkt