Good post overaly.
But you're forgetting one thing, that almost everybody is who has an opinion like yours.
But we do have a poor record when it comes to blending the youth talent into the senior team.
This is very true, and it is even the better word for the problem, than developing or promoting.
Why do you think we have problem with that? Blending. Why?
Do you think we like to give a lot of money for developing young players and then give the future stars away?
The problem is always the same. We are Inter, not the likes of Arsenal, Parma, Bari, Lazio etc. Those teams are not good enough, they don't have the pressure to win the titles, they can afford themselves easily with a poor season in expense of playing some younsters in the first team.
At Inter it is impossible. Look at JuBe example. Who did they have as a first team player from primavera, before Calciopoli? Del Pierro. Anyone else?
And now look who they have now. Marchisio, Chielini, Giovinco, Molinaro(for some time), and many other youth players that didn't come up big, but where playing much for JuBe in Serie B or in the first season when they came back.
This is exactly what allowed this to happen, the circumstances. In Serie B they had good enough team, that they could play youth players, because they would win anyway. This was the perfect opportunity for them. In the first season of Serie A it couldn't be the same, but they still played some of those players who were good in Serie B.
Look at it now. Giovinvo is having problem of getting into the first team, and many other players like Criscito, Paddalino, etc. etc. are gone. Why is that? The anwser is simple. Because the pressure came back, pressure for the result. And AS A RESULT of that the coach HAS to play the best team he can every game, and if that is the case, he can't allow himself to play some ambitious youth player who is promising, BUT is still not as good as some senior player.
This is very simple. If Inter was relegated the next year, I GUARANTEE you that we would see a lot of inter primavera players getting a shot at first team. But this is not the case. We are Inter, the champions of Italy, and because of that the pressure is on us.
Same is with every top team in the world. Who Milan blended before Calciopoli? Maldini, and that's it. Roma had some more success with that, but it is exactly for the same reason I stated above. They weren't title contenders before calciopoli, and last year they declined again, so now because of that, and because of lack of money you will probably see some new youngster from them kicking in(like Motta recently for example).
Who Man Utd developed since Giggs and Beckham days? Sure they have many younsters, but not many were really given a shot, besides a couple like O'Shea or Fletcher, or Brown. And this is over 4, 5 years?
The same case is with Barcelona, but they have unique situation, because
a) they have the best team in the world, and this is why it is easier for them to blend some youngsters as the odds will still be on their side to win every game
b) they have same system over and over again
c) they have one of the best youth systems in the world
d) they play very technical football, that doesn't require much muscle, and it suites young players - unlike at Inter and in Italian league where is exactly the opposite
Santon AND Mario got their chances because they are special players, and they showed it. Santon showed it that he can break into the first team, and he should eventually some day.
But it is very hard to find those kind of youth players. If it wasn't there would be a lot more Del Pierros, Nestas, Maldinis, and Tottis.
So again, we DO have poor record when it comes of blending the youth into a first team, but it is only because we are a top team, that can't risk the scudetto and chance in other competitions. This is the only reason, it's not that we want to do that way. If it was either way I assure you, that most of our players currently would come from our Primavera. But it's not.
Everything has pros and cons, and for everything there is an explanation.
cheers