“When Italy won the last World Cup it didn’t even have three months to live.” As La Gazzetta dello Sport he wrote about Simone Pafundi the day after his debut for the national team in the match against Albania, at just 16 years, eight months and two days. The first to make his debut before turning 17 in over 100 years. A sweet left foot and a lot of quality at the disposal of Roberto Mancini, the first to truly believe in him.
Two years later, however, things have changed. Mancini left the Azzurri bench and Monfalcone’s class of 2006 was “forced” to emigrate to find the space that Udinese could not guarantee him. Switzerland, in the recent past, has done well with players who have now become very important for two big names such as Inter and Arsenal: Federico Dimarco and Riccardo Calafiori have become aware of their abilities beyond the border and have returned stronger and “readier”. Whether it will be the same for Pafundi, time will tell; in the meantime, his experience at Lausanne ended and in eleven months he made 19 appearances (including 16 last season), scoring one goal and two assists.
Flashes of class but also a lot of benching. Ludovic Magnin handled him wisely, avoiding leaving him open to criticism: “He is an excellent player and we would be happy if he showed what he has shown so far in professional football. But it is difficult to reach the level of Maradona or Del Piero. We are talking about a young 17-year-old player who has never played two games in a row in professional football. And we wait for him as if he were Jesus. But Pafundi will not be our Jesus.” It wasn’t, but he will return to Italy with a baggage full of news and hopes for the future. A future to be written, at Udinese or in another team: what matters, at 18, is to play as much as possible.