The fact that he only went to relegation battling team is enough to convince me why he's not that good. As you said, Satriano as 3rd choice here isn't the right plan and let's leave it at that.
It's a strategy from our club. We wanted to send him to Serie A. I don't mind that in general, but why send him to freaking Brest, a French Empoli, then send him to Empoli? It's also because teams from less exposed leagues cannot really afford that kind of a salary on a kid, let alone a fee that Inter was asking initially. If we really want to develop these guys we need to absorb the salary and send them to the best environment.
I'd rather send him to a team that challenges for their domestic championship and then ship him to a midtable Serie A team if that's the path. Sending him to these kind of clubs shatters his development and most importantly, his confidence. You need to be part of a winning group to develop properly unless you have a B team that has a great setup.
If you check the top strikers of the previous generation you'd see that they have this in common and it was very rare to find a paradox. They spent their formative years competing for trophies.
Benzema, started off with a bang at Lyon.
Lewandowski, two full seasons challenging in Poland and was more than ready to become the main striker after a year with Dortmund and win back-to-back with in his first two seasons there.
Dzeko, competed in Bosnia, then odd case as Teplice had their long shot in his first season but when he took off the team wasn't as good. He did compete in Germany though at Wolfsburg. And won the league when he was 23 as the team's leader.
Higuain, competed with River Plate, then at Real Madrid.
Luis Suarez, competed in Uruguay and with Ajax before going to Liverpool.
Aguero, competed with the young teams of Argentina (2 World Cups and Olympics) and his club Independiente to a degree, then competed at Atletico in the early Simeone days.
Falcao, competed with River, Porto and Atletico.
Cavani, competed at club and national level with Uruguay (incl. Copa America win), even at Palermo they reached the cup and was part of the first Napoli contentions in the 2010s (2012-13 season).
If you want to get a striker to reach a higher status, you need to give him this kind of experience. I cannot think of any top striker at a top level that got his playing experience at a relegation battling team. Can barely think of a few that got their early exposure at midtable teams or weak outsiders. Even a Serie B contender is a better experience than a relegation battler in Serie A. Doesn't even need to win it, but being part of a group that wins and gets that 'bug' is a very good experience and compass for the player's future. The Verratti, Immobile and Insigne way with Pescara.
Not everyone is world class and not everyone becomes world class, but at least maximize the chances for your players to gain such exposure. This is why I prefer these guys sticking to the first team and rot on the bench over being sent to useless loans. They stay with a group that competes, they get to train with higher level teammates, better coaches and they understand the pressure that comes with it. Playing with a team that's happy they didn't lose is not the right direction. It's one thing to get players accustomed to the league and another to expect them to perform in unfavorable conditions.
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