One of the many blunders of bulimic English football, which swallows up talents from all over the world, is that it then leaves too many on the street. And among these, some undervalued gems, purchased out of greed rather than planning. This is the case of Adrian Bernabèwho grew up in the youth sector first of Espanyol and then of Barcelona, who is now enchanting with the Parma shirt, and who Manchester City signed in the summer of 2018. Very young, before being eighteen, he plays with the grown-ups in the summer in the pre-season and then also made his debut in September with the big boys with Pep Guardiola on the bench. The union seems destined to give a future and lasting marriage but in three years it does not blossom, so the club comes to the decision to release him.
Parma takes advantage of it. It was an intuition of the Ducali’s then transfer man, Javier Ribalta, who together with the chief scout (also at Parma) Massimiliano Notari closed and defined the coup. Bernabè dreams of being David Silva, he has a great little genius like Ivan de la Pena as his agent and he grew up with Enzo Maresca at the Citizens who also becomes the coach of the gialloblù. The rest is the history of recent years. Roller coaster, the start with a bang, then he slows down, then starts again, then Fabio Pecchia moves him to be the midfielder free to attack, to turn, to joust, to invent, and he takes off. For now in Parma, waiting to find out what his future will certainly be when he grows up.
And Kyle Krause’s club doesn’t need itwho has had and will have similar intuitions again. It’s the circle of football, but Bernabè is destined for a huge stage, sooner or later, and the feeling is that if the performances are like against Juventus, the ‘before’ will win out. Substance, consistency, plays, there were more big names watching him over the course of these weeks and he convinced them all. Even Juventus itself. And even the player himself winked at the greats of Italy. “I really like Italian football, now a lot of quality young people are arriving and I hope to stay here for a long time because it’s a championship that I like. I’m happy”, he said after the match at the Stadium. Now Parma enjoys it. There is time for tomorrow.