At Milan they used to think Simone Verdi could become Italy’s next Gianfranco Zola. His team-mates even started to refer to him by the former Chelsea player’s nickname: “Magic Box”. Just like Zola, Verdi was an undersized second striker with a hint of mischief and spellbindingly brilliant technique. Unlike Zola, he was equally happy striking the ball with either foot.
“Even Simone doesn’t know whether he’s better with his left or his right,” insisted the player’s father recently to La Repubblica. For as long as anyone can remember, Verdi has always practised taking free-kicks at the end of every training session with both his left and his right foot.
Milan will not get to enjoy the fruits of such endeavour. Despite starring for the youth team and making his senior debut in the Coppa Italia at 17, Verdi was never given a chance to represent the Rossoneri in Serie A. Instead, from 2011 until this summer he was packed off on a series of loan and co-ownership deals, moving from Torino to Juve Stabia, Empoli, Eibar and then Carpi.
Finally, in July, he secured a permanent move to Bologna. The fee was reported at €1.5m – peanuts, in today’s money, and indicative of the reality that Milan had ceased to believe he would ever develop into the player they once hoped he could be. At 24, he was hardly a kid any more.
Verdi’s talent had never been in doubt. “Mechanically, he’s perfect,” observed the former Bologna assistant manager Angelo Antenucci, noting how the player freezes each joint, from hip to knee to ankle, at just the right moment before striking the ball. “If you put enough hours in kicking a ball against a wall, your technique will get better, no doubt. But no matter how hard you train you won’t match that level of perfection which Verdi has.”
Somehow, though, the player had never quite been able to put all the elements together into a coherent package. Impatient observers accused him of overthinking, contending that so much obsessive practice had cost him the ability to act on instinct.
Too few paused to consider another possibility: that it might actually be rather hard to achieve continuity in your game when you are changing clubs every five minutes. Bologna were the first to offer him a chance to think long-term, to plan his life beyond the next transfer window. Already, that faith has been richly rewarded.
Verdi opened his Bologna account on 11 September, with a free-kick that set his team on the way to a 2-1 win over Cagliari. He followed up with a 30-yard piledriver in Bologna’s next game, a loss away to Napoli last Saturday. Both goals were beautifully struck.
Neither, though, was as good as the one that he would score on Wednesday night against Sampdoria. Positioned on the right of Bologna’s three-man attack, Verdi timed his run into the penalty area perfectly to receive a crossfield ball from Ladislav Krejci 12 yards out. He met it on the volley with power and precision, blasting it into the roof of the net with a strike that was, quite simply, sublime.
Simone Verdi that is incredible. What a strike! 🔥 #SerieA https://t.co/kBehBrADrT
— BT Sport Football (@btsportfootball) September 21, 2016
Zola himself would have been proud of such an effort, though for many people watching another great attacker who sprang to mind. Verdi’s finish was more than a little reminiscent of Marco van Basten’s goal for Holland against the USSR at Euro 88.
The comparison was put to Bologna’s manager, Roberto Donadoni, at full-time. “Marco’s finish had a difficulty level of 12,” he replied with a smile. “This one was more like a nine.”
Verdi’s goal was followed by another from Mattia Destro – assisted, once again, by Krejci – to give Bologna a 2-0 win. The Rossoblu have taken maximum points from three home games, but fared rather less well on their travels. In two away fixtures they have not only lost twice but conceded eight goals.
They are very much a work in progress, as is Verdi himself. Still adjusting to his position, he was full of running on the right flank and always at the disposal of the team, but also misplaced a number of passes. He was certainly a less consistent threat to Sampdoria’s defence than Krejci on the far side.
Recognising all this, and perhaps simply wanting to protect his player, Donadoni was quick to calm the post-match hype. “Right now he’s only a mini-bomber,” said the manager. “Let’s talk again when he’s scored 10.”
It is an eminently sensible sentiment. And yet, you could forgive the Bologna fans who chose to revel in the possibilities. It would not be the first time that Milan – who once had Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on their youth team books – had let a genuine talent slip through their hands.
Donadoni believes that Verdi has room to grow much further. After all, he has watched the player stay after training every day to practise those free-kicks with both feet. The rest of us, so far, have only seen what Verdi can do with his right.
Talking points
• If Milan have felt any pangs of regret while watching Verdi these past few weeks, then those will at least be tempered by their own positive results. A 2-0 win over Lazio marked the first time since February that they have won two games in a row, and there were hints of a developing identity under Vincenzo Montella as they absorbed pressure relatively comfortably and hit out ruthlessly on the counter.
• An astonishing statistic pinched from Wednesday’s Gazzetta dello Sport: Carlos Bacca’s 23 Serie A goals for Milan have come from only 45 shots on goal. Is there a more ruthless finisher anywhere in Europe right now?
• Inter carried their Derby d’Italia momentum into a comfortable 2-0 win away to Empoli, and the team certainly seems to be functioning more smoothly when João Mário is on the pitch. That said, the Nerazzurri might still be a little too reliant on Mauro Icardi for goals. He has scored six of Inter’s seven in Serie A, and also set up the other one.
• Francesco Totti was back in Roma’s starting XI for the first time since Luciano Spalletti took over as manager, and rewarded that decision with a glorious assist from deep in his own half. The forward, who turns 40 next Tuesday, had a hand in two further goals as the Giallorossi steamrolled Crotone.
• A second consecutive clean sheet for Joe Hart, with some important saves, though he did have one anxious moment dropping a cross and almost spilling it into his own goal. I did write a longer piece looking at the context of Hart’s move, and what they make of him in Turin, following my visit there at the weekend.
• Juventus needed only three days to reclaim the position atop the table that they had surrendered with their loss to Inter. Dani Alves grabbed his first goal for the club in a 4-0 win over Cagliari, while Napoli were held to a goalless draw away at Genoa.
• If anyone was going to halt Sassuolo’s sensational start to this season, then it feels right that it should be Chievo – Serie A’s long-time provincial overachievers. The Flying Donkeys are up to joint-third despite the fact that they have not yet had a goal all season scored by one of their strikers.
Results: Atalanta 0-1 Palermo, Bologna 2-0 Sampdoria, Chievo 2-1 Sassuolo, Empoli 0-2 Inter, Genoa 0-0 Napoli, Juventus 4-0 Cagliari, Milan 2-0 Lazio, Pescara 0-0 Torino, Roma 4-0 Crotone, Udinese 2-2 Fiorentina.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juventus | 5 | 7 | 12 |
| 2 | Napoli | 5 | 7 | 11 |
| 3 | Roma | 5 | 8 | 10 |
| 4 | Chievo | 5 | 3 | 10 |
| 5 | Inter Milan | 5 | 2 | 10 |
| 6 | AC Milan | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| 7 | Sassuolo | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| 8 | Bologna | 5 | -2 | 9 |
| 9 | Genoa | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| 10 | Lazio | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 11 | Fiorentina | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| 12 | Udinese | 5 | -2 | 7 |
| 13 | Sampdoria | 5 | -2 | 6 |
| 14 | Torino | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| 15 | Palermo | 5 | -3 | 5 |
| 16 | Cagliari | 5 | -4 | 4 |
| 17 | Empoli | 5 | -4 | 4 |
| 18 | Atalanta | 5 | -5 | 3 |
| 19 | Pescara | 5 | -5 | 2 |
| 20 | Crotone | 5 | -8 | 1 |
