Future Phenoms; A Collective Ode. Part 1

By: chris | April 9th, 2008

This comes from Marco at the Italy World Cup Blog, a nice two-parter on future phenoms the boot has to offer.

Despite their young age, the likes of Romans Alberto Aquilani and Daniele De Rossi , La Viola’s Pazzini , Juve stalwarts Giorgio Chiellini and Raffaele Palladino,Torino’s Ale Rosina and Udine’s Fabio Quagliarella are no longer considered up and coming prospects.

Italy has always produced world class talent in every generation shift. Whoever said that Italy’s Vivaio is empty can take his foot out of his mouth*

(I don’t think anybody has ever said that, ok maybe about the goalies)

So what does the next generation of future phenoms look like?

Being a teenage phenom/Wonderkid/the next… is a hard thing for a Youngster. These kids are trying to breakthrough an extremely competitive sport, where you’re considered an old geezer at 33 years old. Don’t get me wrong, it’s exciting, they’re talented, they have the potential to accomplish great things and some of them have shined a little on the big stage already. But only a few get to live up to the immense expectations bestowed upon them. A player’s stock can lower or rise beyond rationality, at any given moment. And few of these future phenoms actually become ‘’special”

Basically, prospects are a lot like Internet Companies before that 1st Bubble Burst.

Which brings me to this ;

Goal.com’s Gil Gillespie made a list of the Top 10 Italian prospects born in 1985 or later. With your help, I’d like to take a look at this list and try and criticize it. In his defence, this list is about 2 months old. But I’m pretty sure he watched the Italy U21 face Albania and the Far Oer and then wrote the list

We here at the Italy offside/WorldCupBlog have decided to keep the original list’s order but give you some little opinion of our own.

With no further a do, your future Italian Phenoms :

1. Andrea Russotto

19 year old creative attacking trequartista from Treviso via Swiss Second Division team Bellinzona (Lazio Homegrown)

Has the potential to be the next ; Roberto Baggio, Francesco Totti

For once I agree with Goal.com, Russotto completely deserves the 1st spot on this list.This former Lazio Youth product needed to move to the Swiss 2nd division to be able to come back to the boot. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have talent, he just has big enough balls that he stood up to Moggi’s GEA agency. This kid has amazing feet and has been dominating for Serie B side Treviso and the Azzurrini for quite some time now. All Russotto needs is some Serie A action soon, because he more than deserves it.

Italia blog’s Chris had this to say about this former Laziale (Seeing how Chris happens to be a, let’s say, fervent Romanista, his comments need to be hyped up about 16 %)

The Azzurri’s heir apparent to Francesco Totti, Andrea Russotto’s been called the “Italian Messi” and elicits comparisons to Totti, Roberto Baggio and Antonio Cassano and is widely considered the future of Italian football

I am completely and utterly fascinated by this kid. He is so farkin talented it’s disgusting, and everything he does is so smooth, so cool, with such vision and every move brimming with ability. Russotto is just very very special.

Sweet Skill display, with an Italian Punky-pop soundtrack. (Diventera una Star means he’ll become a star )

2. Sebastian Giovinco

21 year old creative midfielder playing at Empoli via Juventus ( Juve Homegrown)

Has the potential to be the next : A rich man’s Zola, ADP 2.0

The only downside (pun-intended) with Sebastian Giovinco ; his height. The 5 foot tall talented trequartista wouldn’t make it on Fabio Capello coached team but Dino Zoff has this to say “Giovinco is the miniature Del Piero, I believe he has superior fantasy and technical ability to Il Pinturicchio.” I’m sure Fabio agrees, but he’d still bench him at best. The fact that he plays regular Serie A soccer at 5 feet and 21 years of age says it all.

Roberto from the Offside Juve page would like to share his sentiments about the mini-master :

Be still my beating Bianconero heart. With every cloud that rolls by in the sky and with every sun that rises and sets, us tifosi wait with baited breathe until the moment our Giovinco returns to lay claim to the throne in Torino. As one of the world’s greatest prospects, the 21 year old can literally do it all- right now I guess he’s into that attacking midfielder thing. Currently on loan to Empoli, Il Fenomeno stands at a towering 5 ft 5-ish and possesses extraordinary qualities. Lightning fast feet coupled with a remarkable sense of dribbling, often leave every defender he faces feeling simply helpless. However, what truly catapults this kid’s ability into the stratosphere is his vision of the game. Splitting defences with every pass, Giovinco’s throw-balls are freakishly precise. For the ability to make any forward’s achievements seem completely effortless, Giovinco deserves all the praise he gets. Watch out world, here comes Il Fenomeno!

I’m pretty sure The reason youtube has a sport section

For a lengthier, less edited, sans Pantera-esque music video check this one out

 

3. Lorenzo De Silvestri

19 year old Lazio big, smart, versatile defensive Back. Taken over the right-back position for Lazio (Lazio Homegrown )

Has the potential to be the next : For Lazio ; Oddo 2.0 Italy ; Gianluca Zambrotta

Lorenzo De Silvestri has the size, potetial, brain and right attitude to accomplish great things on a football field. Thank god for Lazio and Italian Football because with his skills
He doesn’t need a football field to shine.

Salvatore from The Offside Lazio page had this to say :

If Lorenzo De Silvestri did not play football, he’d still be a superstar. After all, how many 19-year-olds do you know who study Law, excel in athletics and skiing, and speak five languages? Yep, the Lazio youth product is nothing if not an overachiever, and in this marketing-savvy world, he’s set to become as valuable off the field as he is on. As it is, the former captain of the under-17s is physical, ridiculously confident on the ball, and capable of becoming the best Italian back of his generation. Just ask the Sun and World Soccer, who both named him among the world’s best teenagers.

No video, not even a teenie bopper photomontage sorry!

4. Luca Cigarini

21 year old midfield metronome/creative genius behind Parma’s attack. (Parma homegrown)

Has the potential to be the next : A taller, less stoner looking version of Andrea Pirlo, Better than Aquilani (Yes Chris, you can consider these as fightin’ words)

It’s hard to believe Luca Cigarini’s only 21 years old. It seems like, Parma’s non miniature metronome , has been controlling the Tardini Outfit’s midfield for ages. Luca’s one of the Parma youth products who jump ship and head on to England or greener pastures after that Tanzi/Parmalat fiasco. His recent U21 are showing some positive things for the future of the Azzurri midfield.

Francesco from the Parma page has this to say :

Luca Cigarini is not nicknamed the “Professore” for no reason. If you watch him play, you’ll see that he is one of the smartest players on the field. A central midfielder in the Pirlo mould, Cigarini has been compared to the World Cup winning midfielder this season many times. Cigarini grew up in the Parma youth system, and after a successful loan spell in Serie C1, was brought back to the first team. He didn’t figure much last season but when Ranieri arrived he realized Cigarini’s talents and immediately made him a starter. Cigarini’s main strengths are his superb passing and vision, and his long passing is really Pirlo-esque. He also has a good shot from long distance (although he needs to have more confidence and start taking more shots), and is a set piece specialist. He is also a rock in the center of the Italy Under 21 midfield, and has been essential to the play of the Azzurrini in Euro qualifying, notching countless assists and a very important goal vs. the Faroe Islands . It is no surprise big clubs all want the young talent, and he is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Il professore in the class room,

5. Robert Acquafresca

20 year old Torino born centre forward torn between Inter and Cagliari (Torino homegrown)

Has the potential to be the next : Luca Toni , Cristian Vieri U-29

 

This 20 year old 6 footer from Torino has played some ball with Russotto last year and in the U21, so this looking to be a nice upcoming tandem ! Acquafresca’s co-owned with Inter and is making the most of that regular Sardinian Serie A playing time
The good news for Italy is that Bobby Freshwater isn’t going to be striking for the Polish NT any time soon, basically never.

Jeremy of Cagliari offside fame has this to say about the Big Bomber :

If one player can be described as an Italian Phenom, it has to be Cagliari striker Robert Acquafresca. After being sent to play for Cagliari in the David Suazo transfer, he began his Serie A career slowly as it took some time and some losing before he was finally given a chance to show his talent and potential. Once Cagliari dropped to the bottom of the Serie A standings in the first half of the 07-08 season, Acquafresca was finally given a chance to play regularly and it has paid off. In the past 2 months, he has literally taken Cagliaris anemic offense and almost singlehandedly lead them to the point where they might actually avoid relegation. His goal scoring prowess and the confidence with which he takes penalty kicks at such a young age shows what potential he has for Italy and the big club that will eventually take him away from Cagliari. He is currently coowned by Cagliari and Inter and has played at every level in Italys national youth teams. He recently turned down Polands senior squad (his mother is Polish) for Euro 2008 because he knows that Donadoni will soon come calling. Look for him to be a regular fixture in the national team by World Cup 2010 and the next great Italian striker in both the World Cup and club level.

Goals for the Azzurrini, Cagliari and a sweet one from Treviso

Top 10 To be continued….

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