Serie A 2018/19: Is Zaniolo the next Lionel Messi?
There are a lot of young players who are making a name for themselves in European football today. Players like Mbappe, De Ligt, Alexander Arnold, Rashford are considered to be top talents today. Mbappe is also considered as one of the best footballers in the world currently and is already shadowing the likes of Neymar and Cavani in the PSG team through his consistent performances.
With a lot of talented youngsters coming out of the youth academies of the European clubs, many youngsters are currently not under the spotlight of the media, and people don’t talk much about these talented youngsters. One of such talents is AS Roma’s Nicolo Zaniolo
The 19-year-old joined AS Roma in the summer of 2018 from Inter in a deal which made Radja Nainggolan leave Rome for Milan. In his 8 starts in this Serie A season, the young prospect has scored 2 goals. He is an absolute pleasure to watch and his style of play is quite similar to a 19-year-old Lionel Messi.
He is a hard working attacking midfielder who likes to dribble past players. He is an indirect set piece threat with his pin-point deliveries into the box. He made his UCL debut this season coming on from the bench against record champions Real Madrid at the Santiago Barnabeu.
Although Real Madrid went on to win the match by an easy three goal margin, Zaniolo’s performance coming off the bench highlighted why he is considered as one of Europe’s top talents.
AS Roma have invested in a lot of young players over the years which has profited them a lot. They are a team full of top European talents with players like Ante Coric, Justin Kluivert, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Zaniolo and Cengiz Under, expected to make a big impact in European football in the future. Nicolo Zaniolo has already become a fan favorite in Rome.
He has won over the hearts of the Roma supporters after just 6 months of joining the club from rivals Inter. The Roma fans believe that Zaniolo will surely win a ballon dor in the future. They are optimistic that the Italian can emulate the likes of Messi, Griezmann and Salah to become the next left footed superstar in European football.
Di Francesco is the perfect manager for Zaniolo to develop under. He is a manager who is famous for giving a lot of first team opportunities to promising young players. He can help Zaniolo develop his potential and improve as an all-round human being.
The 19-year-old still has to develop on his passing and aerial duels. He still has to grow fit as a player and work hard towards perfection. There is still a long way to go for the Italian, but there’s no doubt that he is arguably one of the best talents in Europe currently.
He is not under the spotlight currently but will soon be one of the most sought after players in the world of football. He has the right potential to go on and become the Lionel Messi of his generation.
Any top European club should be interested to get this man soon as he is surely going to be worth huge money in the future.