AFP/Getty Images
From Belotti to Kessie’: Breakout Players in Serie A
While it’s undeniable that Serie A has lost of a fair share of stars in recent years, Italian club’s sporting directors have a knack for finding worthy replacements for a fraction of the cost. After nine fixtures, we have a fairly large sample size to look at some break out performers in Italy so far this season- some of these players maybe in the transfer market headlines starting in January
Let’s start with two names you are certainly familiar with- Roma’s Kevin Strootman and Edin Dzeko, who are both coming off difficult seasons for very different reasons. Strootman finally looks recovered from his long series of injuries and has been able to play in frequent back to back games. He’s slowly going back to being a tank in the midfield and the player that Van Gaal wanted to bring to Manchester. While last season the best praise you could give Dzeko was his ability to open spaces for Salah, El Shaarawy and Perotti, now the former City striker finds himself leading Serie A in scoring.
The other team in Italy’s capital, Lazio, had received a major boost from the return of Stefan De Vrij who missed last season because of a knee injury- the biancocelesti are now amongst the league leaders for least amount of goals conceded. But unfortunately the Dutch center back fractured his foot last week and will miss about 2 months. Lazio is also getting strong performances from Ciro Immobile who just seems much more comfortable in Serie A compared to playing abroad.
Immobile’s return to Torino on loan in second half of last season had a great impact on striker Andrea Belotti who hasn’t stopped scoring since. The former Palermo striker also scored in the first match he started for the Italian national team, his value on the transfer market has at least quadrupled from the 7.5 million Torino spent to acquire him- he’ll be a name we see linked to big clubs next summer.
Belotti isn’t the only intriguing option up front for Torino. While the granata’s new coach Sinisa Mihajlovic is mainly known for his defensive ability, he now finds himself having to juggle the likes of Iago Falque, Adem Ljajic and Lucas Boye (a player now former Roma sporting director Sabatini regrets not signing) as partners to Belotti in his attacking trident.
Almost everyone is familiar with the players on Torino’s crosstown rivals Juventus’ roster, but the bianconeri also own one of the most promising right backs in Serie A in Pol Lirola who is currently on loan at Sassuolo. The 19 year old Spaniard has taken over for Vrsaljko, who joined Atletico Madrid last summer, very well and has been compared to current Juventus right back Lichtsteiner whom he may replace in Turin should the Swiss defender not renew his contract.
Another 19 year old who has made a name for himself in Serie A this season, is Atalanta midfielder Franck Yannick Kessie’ who started his career as a central defender. The Ivorian international has shown a knack for scoring goals while also displaying an almost Noel Gallagher like confidence, in one of his first matches for Atalanta, he insisted on taking a penalty kick over the bergamaschis big summer acquisition Paloschi. Kessie’s performances have been noticed by Juventus, Napoli and some of the Premier League’s top clubs.
Kessie’s teammate Andrea Petagna seems to have finally found a home in coach Gasperini’s offensive minded system. The former Milan prospect is starting to take advantage of his impressive physical tools which brought him some comparison to Bobo Vieri. Another player to watch on Atalanta is right back Andrea Conti (born in ’94), he’s been a staple on the Italian national team youth teams and has been linked to Napoli who acquired an option on him as part of the deal for midfielder Grassi.
Ironically just as the deal to sell the club appears to be finally around the corner, Berlusconi’s plan of building a young Italian Milan is coming to fruition. The rossoneri defeated Juventus last Saturday thanks to a goal by 18 year old Locatelli, while Gigi Donnarumma made a clutch save in the last action of the match. Montella has also shown confidence in 19 year old fullback Davide Calabria as well as former Liverpool winger Suso who will likely receive a contract extension after arriving from Liverpool on a free transfer.
Gabriel Paletta’s return from an ill fated loan spell at Atalanta, has allowed Alessio Romagnoli to develop some confidence rather than having to constantly adapt from playing next to a different center back every few weeks. Paletta was part of Italy’s last World Cup squad and his experience has been instrumental to Milan’s otherwise very young defense.
While Milan has struck gold with many of these youngsters, they must regret letting Simone Verdi leave for Bologna. The 24 year old offensive midfielder has really strived playing for Donadoni this season- he has already scored four goals and could increase his assist total once Mattia Destro’s form returns. Bologna also features one of the best left backs in Italy, Adam Masina, as well as Hungarian midfielder Adam Nagy who is coming off some strong performances at the Euro.
Let’s wrap it up by looking at some players on Genoa starting with left winger Diego Laxalt who was redeemed by Preziosi’s club as part of the deal that sent Ansaldi to Inter. The 23 year old Uruguayan started off as an offensive winger but has shown enough versatility to also play as a fullback. His teammate, 24 year old center back Armando Izzo, should start being on the radar of top clubs and Italy’s national team coach Ventura in near future. Genoa will likely cash in on striker Leonardo Pavoletti in 2017 since he recently turned 27.
Serie A clubs continue to discover and develop exciting new prospects, and now between Juventus impressive growth revenue wise, as well as Inter and Milan’s ownership changes hopefully the league will be able to keep these players in Italy for longer stretches of time.
@DavidAmoyal
