Roberto Clerici’s most enduring decision was not made in a boardroom. It came after watching a young Sebastiano Esposito in a small-sided game, when he told a colleague that the boy was special and ready to play above his age group. That judgment helped set the Esposito family on a path from Campania to Brescia, and remains part of the Voluntas identity years after Clerici’s death in 2018.
The decision
Clerici was the guiding figure behind Voluntas Brescia, a youth club that has long worked as a proving ground for players moving towards the professional game, including Brescia’s academy. He had an eye for talent, but those who knew him also remember the personal role he took with young footballers: mentor, disciplinarian, trusted adult and, at times, another member of the family.
The Espositos are among the clearest examples. Salvatore, Sebastiano and Pio Esposito came through the environment shaped by Clerici, with Sebastiano and Pio having started for Roberto Mancini’s Italy two days earlier. Their father Agostino placed his faith in Clerici’s assessment and moved north with the family: wife Flavia, eldest daughter Annamaria and the three football-mad boys.
Agostino had been a central defender in Napoli’s youth ranks before playing in Serie C and Serie D for clubs including Celano, Scafatese and Paganese. In Brescia, he began working alongside Clerici at Voluntas. The move gave his sons a structured football setting, while their home life remained centred on the game: matches from morning until evening, in the garden, on the pitch and around the house, usually ending only when dinner was called.
Clerici’s influence stretches well beyond the Espositos. Andrea Pirlo, Francesco Acerbi, Roberto Baronio, Aimo Diana, Eugenio Corini, Daniele Bonera, Antonio and Emanuele Filippini, Emiliano Bonazzoli and Matteo Agliardi are among the players associated with his work. Giorgio Scalvini is the latest name celebrated at the club, where his signed shirt hangs in the trophy room.
There was also an attempt to bring Gianluigi Donnarumma to Brescia after Clerici watched him at a tournament in Castellammare, the same area in which he had identified the Esposito brothers. Donnarumma was 13 and the move did not materialise; Milan eventually took him into their system.
His certainty could be startling. When he first presented a young Pirlo to Brescia president Luigi Corioni, Clerici’s verdict was simple: he had brought him a future champion. The prediction sounded bold at the time, but became another illustration of the conviction that defined his work.
Voluntas carries the method forward
Voluntas now trains at the San Filippo Neri sports centre in Brescia, built by Clerici and later donated to the municipality. He had understood that a stronger youth project required proper facilities, and the site has since been modernised into a broad sporting complex with full-size, seven-a-side and five-a-side football pitches, tennis courts and a basketball court.
Clerici remains visible throughout the centre. The Esposito brothers, now owners of the club, ensured that rooms filled with photographs, medals and trophies were dedicated to him. There is a pitch bearing his name, while a statue beside the main field depicts him with an outstretched hand, recreating his habit of giving every youngster a high-five after training, regardless of ability or age.
That gesture has become part of the club’s daily ritual. Young players who never met Clerici still hear about him, and some continue to refer to him respectfully as “Mr Clerici”. At the end of sessions, the memory of the former coach is honoured with the same high-five.
Former Serie A defender Sebastien De Maio now coaches Voluntas’s Under-15 side. De Maio, who played in the top flight for Brescia, Genoa, Fiorentina, Bologna and Udinese, works alongside sporting director Marco Zambelli, a former Brescia teammate. The standards are demanding, reflecting Clerici’s original approach.
The working principles are displayed in the dressing room: possession, individual duels, first touch, firm passing, aerial-ball trajectories and the coach’s emotional intensity during training. Sessions place considerable emphasis on technical development and ball work, while spring trips abroad are used to expose players to new ideas, different football cultures and matches in front of larger crowds.
It is a programme built around the belief that young players need both quality coaching and the confidence to handle unfamiliar environments. In Brescia, that remains the Clerici method: spot the player early, give him responsibility, and make sure the structure around him is ready when his moment arrives.
