Who is Francesco Pio Esposito? Inter young star, potential future of Italian soccer, shines in UCL debut

Inter won 2-0 against Ajax away in their opening match of the UEFA Champions League league phase campaign, and apart from the two goals scored by French striker Marcus Thuram, 20-year-old Francesco Pio Esposito garnered all the attention in Amsterdam.

Cristian Chivu’s team needed a win like the one on Wednesday night after two disappointing Serie A defeats against Udinese and Juventus, and the former Parma manager couldn’t count on Nerazzurri’s captain Lautaro Martinez for such an important game, due to a minor back injury that forced the Argentinian to the bench. Chivu could only pick one between Pio Esposito and Yann Bonny to play alongside Thuram and had no doubts: the Italian wonderkid made his Champions League debut starting for the away side, showing all his qualities in the 90 minutes he played, but who is Pio Esposito? 

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Born in 2005, Pio Esposito turned 20 in June when he also played with Inter in the Club World Cup and scored a key goal against River Plate. Esposito is the youngest of three brothers, and all of them grew up at Inter. While Sebastiano played for Inter from 2019 to 2020 under Antonio Conte and in the FIFA Club World Cup this summer before moving to Cagliari, Salvatore is currently playing for Spezia. After coming back from his loan spell at Spezia, there were some rumors he could have joined another Serie A team in the 2025-26 season to play more and have some regular game time, but the goal against River Plate and the special relationship with Chivu changed his future in the short term. 

In fact, he grew up in the youth setup of the Italian giants, developing with them from when he was eight years old until 2023, and he’s already worked with Inter’s new coach, Chivu. He then moved to Spezia on loan for the 2023-24 and the 2024-25 seasons where he showed all his potential. Over two years he scored 22 goals in 79 games, and this is why Inter always had an eye on bringing him back at some point, viewing him as a potential star in the future.

The Nerazzurri were right and Pio Esposito showed his potential in his first ever Champions League match, with all the pressure on him a few days after making his national team debut against Estonia under head coach Gennaro Gattuso, with reports indicating he considers him among the best talents of Italian soccer. Esposito had a fantastic match against Ajax, and even without scoring, his key pass to Denzel Dumfries led to the second corner kick at the beginning of the second half, which also led to the second goal scored by Thuram, while in the first half, he was able to find the French striker at the right time, but  his attempt went wide. He had 46 touches, three chances created and a 71.9% pass completion percentage, but those numbers don’t do him justice.

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While Thuram played like a number nine, Esposito had a different attacking role, a few meters behind the striker and played more like a No. 10 behind the central striker. He also knows how to hold the ball when required, as he showed perfectly against Ajax when the team needed it most, demonstrating his awareness of key moments in a match. Of course, it’s still very early and difficult to predict what we can expect from him in the short term, but all signs suggest that Inter have a young striker with the potential to become a regular starter. Considering the current status of Italian soccer and Inter’s recent lack of young players capable of making it into the starting lineup, today’s performance against Ajax is an encouraging sign for the current season.