Paolo Maldini, who will celebrate his 40th birthday on 26 June this year, played his 1,000th professional match last Saturday when he lined up for AC Milan against Parma. Of those appearances, 345 have been clocked up in Serie A.

The Rossoneri star, who is planning to call time on his career at the end of the season, has been the standard bearer for a generation that has given a huge amount to the Italian game, but which is now, finally, starting to fade. However, Italy's clubs have invested heavily in their youth teams as it looks to the future.

Today a new generation of talented players is primed to take up the baton. The fact that many of them happen to be attackers is a sign of the way the Italian game has evolved in recent times. Read on as FIFA.com gives you the lowdown on some of Serie A's brightest young gems.

A star is born in seconds
It took 18-year-old Alberto Paloschi a matter of seconds to achieve star status. Having come off the bench to make his Serie A debut against Siena on 22 January, he managed to score the game's only goal to clinch victory for AC Milan just 20 seconds later, showing consumate composure as he found the net with his first touch.

His cross-shot, struck on the half-volley with his right foot from 18 metres out, burst the net with pinpoint accuracy and enabled the European champions to claim three valuable points. Italian football had never seen anything like it.

Electing to throw this young forward into the Serie A cauldron might have been a desperate move on the part of Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti, but perhaps he already had a good idea of what was coming next. In fact, Paloschi, a youth team stalwart, had already made two previous appearances in the starting XI in the Italian Cup, featuring in both games of a two-legged tie against Catania. And he scored in each one.

With Ronaldo injured - and Kaka, Alberto Gilardino and Pippo Inzaghi all missing - Paloschi has teamed up with fellow 18-year-old Alexandre Pato to form the youngest strikeforce in the club's history. The pair offer something of a stark contrast to their veteran team-mates in the Rossoneri back four.

"He's going to stay with us for a while, until our injured players recover, and then he'll be going back to the youth team," explains Ancelotti, who is keen not to over expose the Brazilian sensation. "Youngsters like him need to be allowed to develop gradually, but with the knowledge that they have huge potential."

Balotelli, the future of Inter
Meanwhile, Milan's eternal rivals Inter are resting their hopes on a 17-year-old attacking talent by the name of Mario Balotelli. The son of Ghanaian immigrants, who went to Italy to work, Balotelli was born in Palermo in 1990 and was adopted by his Italian host family two years later. In 2006, this precociously gifted striker benefited from a special dispensation from the league which allowed him to play in Serie C (the Italian third division), even though he was not yet 16.

Balotelli'snatural dribbling instincts and a devastating right foot have seen him quickly attract interest from a number of top clubs. After rejecting several offers, notably from Barcelona where he scored eight goals in three matches while on trial, he finally agreed to join Inter Milan, who provided a series of guarantees regarding his training and development.

Since making his debut for Inter's youth team, he has scored 18 goals in as many games, leaving the Nerazzurri chiefs ecstatic about their new starlet. The high point of his career to date came in January, when he notched a superb double against Juventus in the Italian Cup.

Although attracting less attention than the various Milan prodigies, Lazio's 19-year-old midfielder Andrea Russotto, a local-born product of the club's youth academy, is already been dubbed the new Cassano, "only more intelligent", according to various coaches. After playing in various positions in midfield, he was swiftly cast in the role of playmaker due to his excellent ability to read the game.

Russotto, who is currently turning out for Treviso, took his first steps in Switzerland playing for Bellinzona, before a gradual advance through the ranks back in his native Italy. For the last six seasons he has been a mainstay of the national youth teams, and by the age of 18 had already made his debut for Italy's U-21 side.

Lining up along side Russotto for the Azzurini, meanwhile, is Daniele Dessena, a 20-year-old midfielder blessed with great strength and a phenomenally powerful shot. A product of the Parma academy, Dessena has already represented Italy at every age group up to U-21 level, and has rejected a number of offers to move elsewhere as he sets his sights on becoming the flag-bearer for the Gialloblu.

The new Nesta?
Another player to keep an eye on is Fernando Martin Forestieri, an 18-year-old born in Argentina to Italian parents who returned home to Genoa in 2006. After coming through the ranks at Newell's Old Boys and later joining Boca Juniors in 2003, this attacking midfielder, who can also operate as a second forward or on the left flank, is blessed with exceptional technique for his age and has proven himself to be a feisty competitor.

On the books at Siena, he made his Serie A on 26 September 2007, in a 1-1 draw with Atalanta, and he has already scored his first goal, in a 3-2 defeat by Inter Milan on 13 January 2008.

The talent spring is not just flourishing in midfield and attack.Ever since he made his debut for Lazio, 19-year-old Lorenzo De Silvestri has emerged as the great hope for the future of Italy's backline. Biancocelesti supporters already believe that he is the natural successor to Alessandro Nesta, despite the fact that, for the moment, De Silvestri is playing at right-back. Defensively solid, he is also very dangerous when he embarks on surging runs forward.

So much for the assertion that Italian football is full of golden oldies. It would seem, on the contrary, that it has youth very much on its side.