Presenter and speaker of Radio Sportiva, editorialist and market man of Tuttomercatoweb, he is on RAI with the historic program 90° Minuto
The rounds of the round of 16 of Euro 2024 are in the archive and it is a first moment for the balance sheets. First of all about Italy, even if so much has already been written and told. Suffice it to say that without Mattia Zaccagni’s goal we would be out, because we would not have been among the four best third-placed teams, to say that our European Championship was anything but positive. But very Italian, very Italian. Of suffering, of the trenches, and then with the flash of heart, instinct and anger that has always characterized some of our most important campaigns, if we think of the 1982 World Cup or USA ’94 for example. Luciano Spalletti will probably start from the three-man defence, the team that will challenge Switzerland will tell us once and for all whether Federico Chiesa and Gianluca Scamacca are the attack on which the coach still focuses and how much Riccardo Calafiori will be missed instead, who is disqualified…
The flops of market men
It was a European Championship with a show on the pitch only at times and with many flops. Of some national teams, above all England, paradoxically first but booed, then Belgium, second but contested, and a France that for now is playing with its foot at half throttle. The best? Germany and Spain. But how many flops among the great and expected market men. Above all the two stars of Ukraine, the top scorer of the Liga, Artem Dovbykand the Shakhtar attacking midfielder, George Sudakov. The first has a clause with Girona worth 40 million, the second is valued by the Ukrainians even more. And what about Romelu Lukaku? The much talked about Chelsea center forward, who Roma has decided not to buy, would be top scorer without VAR. And even if he hadn’t missed a long series of tempting opportunities. He seems far from the best form, perhaps even from the best times of his career… Small Dutch parenthesis: speaking of strikers, there was talk of Joshua Zirkzee to the point of exhaustion but Ronald Koeman doesn’t see him and doesn’t let him play. Can this be considered a flop impact on the coach’s beliefs?
Revelations become market men
It was, if anything, a European Championship where the big names are just getting going, from Kylian Mbappé to Jude Bellingham, from Cristiano Ronaldo to many others, but where several revelations are emerging. Georgia is showing off a couple of them: we knew the qualities of George Mamardashvilinumber one of Valencia, but together with Gianluigi Donnarumma he is proving to be one of the best goalkeepers at international level. It could be for him the European of the big leap as well as for the striker Georges Mikautadze, who wrote the history of Metz, who failed to make the jump to Ajax in the Netherlands (like Lorenzo Lucca), but who as top scorer in the European Championship will certainly earn the pass for a big team. Since we’re talking about Italy: Riccardo Calafiori he played a super season with Bologna but was considered immature for the national team. His performances have made even the last of the skeptics change their minds, he is definitely a big player. He won’t be there against Switzerland where he showed off Dan Ndoye who if he were to find consistency in front of goal (only one goal against Bologna this season…) could become a top club player in the Premier League. At Udinese he is a leader but with Slovenia he has shown that he is ready for the next step Jaka Bijolwhile the match against Italy confirmed to the world audience that Athletic Club is now too small for the qualities (and the 50 million euro release clause) of Nico Williams. Then there is Romania which, regarding Serie A, confirmed that Razvan Marin And Marius Marin they have in common the surname and qualities of international level players. Of course, it’s only the group stage, now comes the fun part. The big names are thriving, others are disappointing, some surprises will be watered down or will soon be eliminated and the values will emerge definitively. But the market is attentive to these exploits and flops. Who will be able to best seize the opportunities?