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Amoyal: The Tale of Berardi- will the Italian Robben follow in Di Natale’s footsteps?
Berardi’s talent is undisputable- but his impressive scoring doesn’t give us the full picture. Because of his magical left foot, Berardi has been compared to Robben and in addition to goals, he has provided his teammates with 23 career assists in Serie A (during his best campaign in Serie A in 2014/15 he had 10 assists to go with 15 goals). But Berardi has also a darker side , he’s a great example of what the Italians call “Genio e Sregolatezza” (genius and undiscipline).
Berardi’s temper has also brought some comparisons to Balotelli. Berardi has collected a whopping 33 yellow cards in Serie A in addition to multiple 3 game suspensions, one of which cost him a selection to the Under 21. Berardi had previously not responded to a selection to the Under 19 which brought him a 9 month suspension with Italy’s national teams.
While it’s almost too easy to compare him to Robben and Balotelli today, it’s possible that Berardi follows into Toto’ Di Natale’s footsteps. The former Udinese striker has been the ultimate “big fish in a small pond” in Serie A in recent years after turning down multiple opportunities to leave for big clubs- in addition to this, Di Natale has always found a way to avoid playing at the San Paolo stadium against his hometown team Napoli- something that has curiously happened with Berardi when it comes to playing against Juventus (more to come on this).
Berardi’s only coach at the professional level, Eusebio Di Francesco, has described him as “shy and introverted” which would explain why the talented striker has decided to stay at Sassuolo in recent years. Some seem to think Berardi simply doesn’t have the personality to be at a big club between his temper and unwillingness (at least so far) to fight for a starting job, especially when you compare him to Dybala who didn’t hesitate to join Juventus despite heavy competition in his role. Let’s take a look at what the past tells us about Berardi’s future choices:
Juventus has been a huge factor in Berardi’s career even before they acquired half of his rights in September 2013 as part of the deal that sent Luca Marrone to Sassuolo. In fact, the bianconeri tried signing him when he was 12 years old, but Berardi didn’t want to leave his hometown at such an early age. Seeking stability and being in an environment where he’s comfortable have continued to be drivers in Berardi’s career choices- but probably not the only ones.
In the last days of his tenure at Juventus back in the summer of 2014, Antonio Conte had tried bringing him to Turin but Berardi turned down the advances of Chelsea’s current coach. Back then Berardi was coming off his first season in Serie A (in which he scored 15 goals) so many chalked up his decision as simply a desire to play regularly.
The following summer the Italian federation ended the practice of co ownership deals which forced Juventus and Sassuolo to find a solution (I suspect the two clubs would still co own Berardi today if the practice was still allowed). Juventus sold their half to Berardi’s rights for a mere 10 million euro payable in 4 years, certainly well below the market value for a player of this caliber who was only 21 at the time.
As part of the deal, Juventus retained an option to buy Berardi for 25 million. By then Juventus had a new coach in charge for over a year in Max Allegri, who curiously became available after Berardi scored 4 goals in a match against Milan. But even a new coach, who had emphasized the role of offensive wingers more than Conte, wasn’t enough to entice Berardi to join Juventus who decided to stay at Sassuolo once again (and by now people couldn’t say that Berardi wanted to stay at a team that would offer him playing time so he could make the Euro squad).
Because Berardi decided not to go to Juventus, it wasn’t surprising to see Inter heavily linked to the striker last summer. Berardi has never hid the fact that he was an Interista growing up (he claims to only be a fan today when it comes to motorcycle races) and while this fact has not prevented another Interista in Andrea Pirlo from playing for both Milan and Juventus, Berardi did grow up during the Calciopoli era- a period in which the rivalry between Juventus and Inter became even more intense.
Considering that Sassuolo and Juventus work on many deals together (two of the clubs directors Marotta and Carnevali have dinner very frequently), and that the bianconeri had sold their half to Berardi’s rights to Sassuolo for a well below his market value, it’s not surprising that Sassuolo never started a formal negotiation with Inter. If that wasn’t enough, Sassuolo’s owner Giorgio Squinzi is a self-proclaimed huge Milan fan.
Sassuolo moving Berardi to Inter last summer would have been the equivalent of Juventus selling Morata to Barcelona before Real Madrid could exercise their buy back clause, but starting next year things will get even more interesting. Juventus no longer has a formal clause on Berardi, but their strong relationship with Sassuolo ensure they’ll still be a factor.
It will be interesting to see if Berardi finally gives in and joins Juventus, or decides to follow in Di Natale’s footsteps by staying at his current club. The option of going abroad is probably more likely than joining a Serie A team other than Juventus, Berardi has been previously linked to Tottenham and the fact that Barcelona has Braida on their board, gives them an advantage since the former Milan director has a strong bond with Sassuolo. The only thing that is certain is that Berardi will keep scoring and his name will be mentioned many times next summer.
See you next Tuesday for another round of Transfer Talk…
@DavidAmoyal
