Serie A used to be one of the world’s greatest football leagues. The might of AC Milan won countless trophies in the 1990s and 2000s, Inter Milan won the Champions League as recently as 2010 and Juventus were one of the greatest footballing sides in Europe. Napoli, Roma and Udinese all graced the European stage and so many great players played in Serie A that it became a Who’s Who of famous footballing stars across the generations.
So to find players like Gervinho, Anderson, Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli thriving in Serie A when they were heavily criticised for their performances and/ or attitude in the Premier League seems strange. In times gone by Italian clubs would have signed the best of the best. Cost would have been no issue; European semi-finals were almost guaranteed. It was seen as a career progression, a huge honour. Very few Premier League stars made the cut. So why are the players mentioned above, alongside countless others including Paul Pogba (under 21 sensation), Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal flop) and Stefan Savic (Manchester City reject) from the Premier League, as well as Gonzalo Higuain from Real Madrid and many others from around Europe whose careers have flat-lined, found themselves performing at the highest levels again in Serie A?
Many of these players appear to have undergone complete character changes and are in the form of their life. Paul Pogba has gone from being something of a joke at Manchester United to one of the best young central midfielders in Europe. Gervinho could barely find the pitch let alone the back of the net during his time at Arsenal but has found his feet at Roma and is one of their key players in their attempt to chase down Juventus at the top of the league. Higuain has been in good scoring form for Napoli having been forgotten at Real. So are these players undergoing career altering revivals under fantastic managers, with more playing time and better opportunities giving them the chance they needed to prove their worth? In the cases of Tevez and Balotelli, where their talent was never in question, has the Italian weather soothed them into more sensible, rational players? It appears remarkable that these players have all gone to Italy and been relatively successful. There is now even talk of Pogba being resigned by United. If that goes through the Juventus scouts are due a hefty cut of the price tag for taking the risk on him in the first place!
It just seems too good to be true. The fact of the matter is, it probably is. Italian football has been in decline ever since the match fixing scandal in the middle of the last decade rocked the league and sent Juventus to oblivion in the lower leagues. The reputation never recovered. The best players wanted to play in a league where they knew the results were determined on the pitch, not in a back office somewhere. The league has never really recovered. Kevin Prince-Boateng left to join Schalke 04 in Germany at the end of the summer transfer window after being racially abused in a cup game and walking off the pitch. Balotelli was seen crying in a recent game when he was racially abused. Recent allegations of match fixing ensure that the old suspicions haven’t gone away.
Serie A is not a league where players make their revival. It is a league dying slowly as the best players are drawn to the competitiveness of Germany, the wages of France, England, Russia, the glamour of Spain. As the top players leave, the league becomes more and more saturated with unloved talent from those major leagues. The top class players go one way, the players they replace go the other. It is no miracle that these players all succeed in Italy. There is nothing in the water. These players all play to a fairly high standard, which is a standard that most of the players playing in Serie A today can only aspire to. Gervinho et al have not been reborn, they have simply found a league where their talent makes them stand out.
Having said that, do keep an eye out for Pogba. That young man’s talent is real.
Ali Haggis