Lorenzo Insigne: Massively talented yet under-appreciated

Italy’s forward Lorenzo Insigne (R) challenges Netherlands’ defender Daley Blind during the 2013 UEFA U-21 Championship semi-final football match between Italy and Netherlands at HaMoshava Stadium in Petah Tikva, north of Tel Aviv

By now everyone must have heard of Lorenzo Insigne, but still his talent goes unnoticed. How many rate him in the top 10 or even top 15 under-23 attackers? Not many. That’s been the case all his life.

As a kid he had plenty of problems economically, and many said he wouldn’t be able to fulfill his dream of becoming a professional footballer because of his height. He stands just 5’4″ tall!

He was rejected by Inter Milan and Torino after trials. But Napoli‘s scouts could see the talent he possessed and signed him at the tender age of 14. After spending a few seasons on loan (and one in a co-ownership deal, after which Napoli again bought all his rights) in lower division clubs, he finally came into the limelight in the 2011/12 season after his brilliant performances with Prescara (on loan), who went on to become champions of Serie B. He was given the Serie B ‘Player of the Year’ award for his performances (18 goals, 14 assists).

There’s one man to whom he owes a lot for his development, and that’s Zeman. When others rejected him, Zeman motivated him, telling him that height doesn’t matter, but the head does. And look where he is now.

Insigne is at his best when playing behind the striker but is pretty versatile – he can play on either wing and even as a striker. What’s so special about him? Although he has had scored many goals (before he returned to Napoli), he can’t be classified as an out-and-out striker because of his poor finishing.

Goal scoring is not his best ability, but there’s a lot more to his game than just goals.

It’d be wrong to judge him on the amount of goals he has scored. Insigne can be Napoli’s answer to the great Maradona. That’s a pretty lofty comparison, but they are similar in style. Both short but with the ability to hold their ground, both very creative, both with the ability to turn a match around on their own. Insigne usually gives just the perfect pass, on which a striker thrives. And if the striker ahead of him gets heavily marked, he can exploit the space created by that and trouble the defence.

Not a great crosser of the ball, Insigne always cuts inside moving towards his natural position when deployed on the wings. It’s a treat to watch him with the ball at his feet; he does things which not many can do, probably none in his age group. He is also good at set pieces. He averages a successful dribble every 31 minutes – that puts him in the top 10 dribblers in Serie A. He has got an excellent pass success rate as well, recording an 82% completion rate – excellent figures for a second striker/winger.

On returning to Napoli, Insigne was touted as the perfect replacement for the departed Lavezzi, but then again, it was the same old story for him. He was neglected by Mazzari as Pandev was preferred by the manager. Most of his appearances came off the bench but he managed to show a glimpse of his class, bailing out Napoli on several occasions (away to Parma, and against Cagliari at home) with his sheer individual brilliance!

Insigne has the knack of scoring important goals or providing great assists at the time of crisis. That shows how good he is. And then, he had a brilliant campaign with Italy in the Euro U21 Championship, where he helped Italy reach the final. He scored the winner against England, provided the assist for the winner against the Dutch in the semi final and another assist against Spain in the final.