sábado, 6 de agosto de 2011

Juventus's left wing solution might be at home.

While most juventinis are eagerly waiting for the icing of the cake on an exciting transfer market in the form of a world class left winger perhaps the solution to the left wing problem might be at home and for free.

There's hardly a left winger in world football who hasn't been linked to Juventus to try and fill the void left by the retiring of the czech legend Pavel Nedved and hopefully mirror Milos Krasic's exploits on the opposite side of the field.

Last year juventinis all over the world watched in anger as Giuseppe Marotta made sure the dream of once wonderkid Sebastian Giovinco suceeding in a Juventus shirt would be slim, he loaned the player to Parma with the option to buy half of his stock for pennies which of course they did after his excellent season.

This provoked resentment from tifosis all over the world because many considered Giovinco the perfect (And free) solution to the left wing problem and after representing Juventus on every youth level the dream of him waving the Juventus flag next to others youngsters such as Marchisio and De Ceglie seemed romantic to say the least.

What has been a pattern in Juventus's last years (And in rest of Italy to some extent) is to see former youngsters tryumphing on other teams in the exact positions where the team is lacking quality. Last year Juventus were desesperately needing a quality right back while Cassani was making a name for himself at Palermo, Juventus needed a left winger and Giovinco was being called to the national team. Slim at the back? Ariaudo, Criscito, Balzaretti, Konko, Masiello, in the middle? Candreva, Nocerino, you name it.

Giovinco is an explosive talent, he debuted under the management of Didier Deschamps and then suceeded at Empoli on Serie B, he was then called back to Juve where he was hot and cold but terribly mistreated, after that got loaned to Parma where with his excellent season he managed to get called into the national team despite the fact that many experts considered him too small to make it at the top level, this was all toped with a poetic brush with his exploits against Juventus probably fueled by his resentment on his bad treatment.

And while juventinis still dream of Giovinco coming back and be the perfect solution, there another name in the Juventus roster that can be considered much more than adequate, that name is Cristian Pasquato.

Let's take a look at some stats:

Sebastian Giovinco.

Juventus / Serie B / 2006-07 ---- 3 Apps 0 Goals
Empoli / Serie B / 2007-08 ---- 37 Apps 6 Goals
Juventus / Serie A / 2008-09 ---- 27 Apps 3 Goals
Juventus / Serie A / 2009-10 ---- 19 Apps 1 Goals
Parma / Serie A / 2010-11 ---- 32 Apps 7 Goals

Cristian Pasquato

Juventus / Serie A / 2006-07 ---- 1 Apps 0 Goals
Empoli / Serie B / 2007-08 ---- 26 Apps 1 Goals
Empoli / Serie B / 2008-09 ---- 14 Apps 1 Goals
Triestina / Serie B / 2009-10 ---- 17 Apps 1 Goals
Modena / Serie B / 2010-11 ---- 42 Apps 9 Goals

While looking at these stats Pasquato's resumeé seems very inferior to Giovinco's the grand total tells otherwise, Giovinco's 120 appearances are matched with a total of 17 goals while Pasquato's 100 appearances are matched with a total of 12 goals.

Yes, to compare two different players is out of the line and unfair to both of them, I'm just trying to make a point that if Giovinco is considered the perfect solution, Pasquato should at least be given a shot to prove himself.

It is true that Pasquato has only had one good senior season and Serie B is hardly considered top level, but with his ability to step into the left wing and secunda punta positions easily, his freekick ability as an alternative to Pirlo and Del Piero, the arrival of Mirko Vucinic and his competition with Del Piero and Quagliarella for the LW/SS spot, maybe it's time for Juventus to start treating better their youngsters and introduce Pasquato gradually into first team duties where he can learn from Del Piero and company. He should at least be considered first choice above the underperforming duo of Jorge Martinez and Simone Pepe.

By the end of the transfer market many will consider it a failure not to bring a quality left winger, I would just consider it an investment, the best kind of investment.

His development could end up working for all parties, the player, Juventus and if I dare to dream of his succees maybe it could work out well for his country as well as a good alternative to the attacking midfielders in the azzurri.

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