Nicolò Zaniolo was heavily linked with a move to AC Milan during the summer window but he ended up in the Premier League, where he has not really blossomed to this point.
Calciomercato.com recall that after the adventure he had in Turkey with Galatasaray, the chance to try the Premier League and even join a club competing in Europe there was too big a chance to turn down.
However, things have not been going well. Even in last night’s match against Chelsea, a replay in the round of 32 of the FA Cup (won by the Blues 3-1), the usual script was repeated: the forward started on the bench and got a few minutes at the end of the match.
Zaniolo has 27 appearances for Villa but only 11 starts, meaning he has not even reached 1000 total minutes played, and he has just two goals of which one was in the league against Sheffield United and one was in the Conference League against Zrinjski Mostar.
Villa are ready to send him back to Galatasaray at the end of the season – a club with whom Zaniolo has a contract valid until 30 June 2027 – because the €22.5m option to buy plus €15.5m in bonuses are deemed too high.
Galatasaray will have to make do with the €5m loan fee they got and might have to say goodbye to the 10% resale clause too, but they might still owe Roma €10m in bonuses in addition to 20% of the proceeds from a future sale.
What next for Zaniolo? Upon returning to Turkey, the former Roma player will express a single wish: to return to Italy and to Serie A where he demonstrated most of his talent.
His desire will be decisive, as is his wish to return to Luciano Spalletti’s plans for the Italian national team. Zaniolo’s name may come back into vogue for Milan, but Napoli and Fiorentina are on alert too and are looking for reinforcements.
Italian players will never learn, unless you’re a defensive midfielder, a fast inverted winger or a center-back you will never adapt to the Premier League, they play kick and run football, nothing like our technical style. Unless you have an Italian coach in the Premier League that knows how to actually use you, you have no place there. That’s why our players don’t do well outside of Italy.
Exactly
Italians have a technical style?
Since when?
Italians are known for their tactical style, not at all for thei technique.
Almost all technical players in serie A, with few exceptions, has always been non Italians.
Baggio, Totti, Zola, Zaniolo himself, Del Piero, Pirlo, Albertini do you want me to go on? As an Italian are you going to disagree with what we are taught at Coverciano? Are you new to Italian football? My friend we’ve had more technically gifted footballers than even Brazil. We can draw a long list of the best technical footballers of the planet that are Italian.
Obviously you have no idea about tactic and techniques. Dumdum. A tactic is the highest-level description of the behavior; techniques provide a more detailed description of the behavior in the context of a tactic
Let me draw you list of our most technically gifted footballers:
Baggio
Del Piero
Totti
Baresi
Ancelotti
Mancini
Donadoni
Mancini
Albertini
Evani
Signori
Massaro
Zola
Di Biagio
Di Matteo
Vieri
Chiesa sr
Doni
Zambrotta
Gilardino
Pirlo
Toni
Cannavaro
De Rossi
Di Natale
Marchisio
Bonucci
Palombo
And I could go on and on, even players like Francesco Lodi were incredibly gifted
And that’s just since 1990, when I watched my first match at San Siro
🤣🤣🤣
You are just naming all of the Italian players you have heard of.
Look at those names man.
5 maybe are technical the others were just runners.
I’m surprised you didn’t include Gattuso and Materazzi in your list.
If Italians are so technical how come almost none of them ever played in the Spanish league, the actual technical league? And those they did were defenders. Canavaro, Panucci, Coco, etc
Even today if you check the Italian players abroad they are either GKers, defenders or defensive midfielders, versatile, Tonali.
Italians are known for defenders and defensive midfielders.
Only exceptions are players like Baggio, Del Piero, Totti, Pirlo Cassano, Zola.
Someone mentioned Jorginho.
Is Jorginho really Italian 🤔?
He has Italian passport. He moved to Italy when he was 15 from Brazil. He wasn’t good enough to play for Brazil so he decided to play for italy.
Buddy I am an Italian unlike you I don’t live india, I watched my first match in the San Siro in 1990 my friend, also why the hell would we play in La Liga when Serie A was the best league on the planet, Ronaldo, Maradona, Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard all the best players played here, you know nothing about football do you, remember when Milan went undefeated from 1991-1993, and won everything 5 years in a row the top 3 Ballon d’Or was Milan, you want to know why we never played in Spain? Because without Baresi and Van Basten we destroyed Barcelona 4-0 in the Champons League final, and they had Romario and Koeman. So sit down your stupidity is showing, that’s the heaviest defeat in champions league history. This is what happens when we let these Indians and desert people comment on our sport then you find idiots like this.
Another thing, 2006 World cup winners, 1994 final, 1990, Semi finals, 82, winners, 70 finals, where was Spain or better where was your shithole country? That’s just recent history 4 World Cups, 2 Euro’s, all your country has is poverty and AIDS.
This is why we don’t allow Indians and Pakistanis and Arabs into our country, this right here. Idiots, their players can’t even make it in our neighborhood football leagues…just a bunch of malnourished scum.
I think you meant “tactical” not “technical” or at least hope so.
Italian players are “tactical” – but unfortunately the majority are not technical enough nor physical enough to play in the EPL. And I would hardly call the best league in the world one that just plays “kick and run football”🤔
It’s kick and run football my friend, look at their national team, look at the tactics their coaches employ, also let me remind you, Italian coaches have won the Premier League more than any other nationality, remember what an old Zola and Vialli did in the Premier League, highly gifted TECHNICAL footballers and they took the an English club to their first European trophies in more than a decade. Vialli and Zola. Two of the most TECHNICALLY gifted Italian footballers ever. Rethink your statement, you haven’t been around long enough to know what technical footballers are.
CIAO Zilla, maybe you’re right, Veratti and Jorginho did well abroad, next is Casadei. Some italians now like Barella and Frattesi also do really well at football technique in serie a.
Times have changed my friend. The most technically gifted team is in EPL. Some teams still play run and gun but you’ll always have the mid tablers in every league playing lower quality football. But right now EPL has the best coaches and players. It is what it is
Yeah that’s why we are the Champions of Europe beating them at Wembley, stfu, the English a bunch of crying pussies, that’s why you see Hadrian’s wall in the UK we used to own them. Still do from Wembley to Roma.
I would say better get Baldanzi. Empoli will sell him for sure since they are in argument with him trying to force a move. They hardly even played him in the first half of the season as a punishment. Also Empoli will prob go in sera B, further bringing the price of Baldanzi down. We might get a great talent for peanuts. Him being Milanista is just a plus.
Baldanzi signed for the Roma for 10m (plus 5m bonus).
Wow i just checked you are sadly right. He joined them at the end of the transfer market. If he turns out in a great player (and he def has the talent for it), this is another big fail from our scouting team.
I also think it’s a big miss for us at this price tag. He has a lot of potential, 10-15m is very low for today’s market.
Finished player
Right? Why do we keep being linked to this guy?
Not a fan…
The comments section is more interesting than the click bait article. SM writers, perhaps instead of reprinting these garbage links maybe talk about why zaniolo is totally washed and if he would even fit with what Milan are trying to do, maybe go out on a limb and debunk or verify these trash stories from CM, reppublica etc. If you’re hurting for content I have loads of hot takes about these type of links I’ll give you for free. 🤣
already said if they want an italian am Colpani is their man. Zaniolo is trash. Roma didnt want him. Gala doesnt want him nor does aston. why would we want him? No longer a club that collects trash
I think the comments above have picked up on the counterintuitive, and frankly bizarre, tension that has existed between the tactical obsession of Italian coaches (particularly in the 90s) and the technical capability and expression of many of Italy’s best players who also happen to be some of the most technically gifted players ever.
The tension has manifested itself with the Italian national side playing very mundane sides at big tournaments which have usually fallen very flat (other than Euro 2000). So I can understand why at an extremely superficial level you could say that the players are just ‘runners’.
Some of the most technically gifted players of all time, Baggio, Zola, Mancini and Del Pierio all fell prey to the tactical obsession of coaches. The former 3 had problems at club level (even Mancini who stayed at Samp because he knew he would have problems at big Italian clubs) and Del Piero generally struggled for the Azzuri. Pirlo was going to suffer, too, until Mazzone recast him as a regista.
I think some of the above have their definitions mixed up, too. Technique relates to the individual skill of the players: touch, ball control, passing range, shooting, finishing and even tackling. The individual tactical intelligence of players is how well they are able to implement the instructions from a coach.
It’s a satire to suggest that the quality an Italian player is renowned for is his running power. Just think for a second, how does this compare to Africans? It’s not even close. Why would you bother with an Italian for his running? How many quick wingers has Italy even produced, considering that Italy basically didn’t play a winger in a major tournament for 20s years from 1990.
As for Zaniolo, whereas he would have been perfect on the left and, ideally, as the CAM these roles are now covered. Pioli would have been so good for him in the last 12 months.
As much as I would like to see it, I just can’t see Milan turning to Zaniolo.
Tactics are all about positioning on the field
Pirlo was both technically and tactically gifted
Even when Zaniolo was at Roma he was just a cameo player who does something special once or twice in a whole season. So to Milan absolutely NOOOO!!!!