The start of Fiorentina’s off-season has not been a positive one, with successful coach Vincenzo Montella being sacked by the club at the start of the month. The move came as a shock to many since the Viola performed so well last season, finishing only five points off Champions League qualification, and reaching the semi finals of the Euro League.
The question now for Fiorentina is: what next? The addition of Mohamed Salah during the January window turned out to be an immense move, encapsulated in that brace against Juve.
However, the attacking players on the roster really underwhelmed last season. Khouma Babacar, Mario Gomez, Alessandro Diamanti and Alberto Gilardino, the squad’s prime attackers, accounted for only 17 league goals in 2014/15. The remedy to the Viola’s major problem: the return of Giuseppe Rossi.
The former Manchester United product had more loan spells (2) than goals (1) for his then parent club, but found success with a move to La Liga side Villareal where he scored 56 goals in six years. Before the injury saga began, he was also a frequent inclusion in Prandelli’s Italian national team squads, making 30 appearances and nearly being named to the World Cup squads in both 2010 and 2014.
Since joining Fiorentina from Villareal in 2013, Rossi has managed only 22 league appearances. But when he’s been on the pitch, he’s proved himself one of the most prominent attackers on the peninsula: in 21 caps in the 2013/14 season, the Italian international netted 16 goals and added three assists while posting an average match rating of 7.38. His fluidity in attack is something that Fiorentina have been severely lacking in his absence, and the pairing he had with Juan Cuadrado two seasons ago was a prime example of this.
The best thing about ‘Pepito’ Rossi is that nearly every facet of his game is refined. Aside from the fact that his size (5′ 8″) inhibits him from being an effective aerial threat, Rossi has every thing you could want in an attacking player.
The left-footed man is comfortable playing a winger, a solo striker, trequartista or even a support striker. His clinical finishing makes him the perfect player to be on the end of attacking runs and through balls, and can provide strong link-up play with wingers, wide midfielders and other strikers.
As good as he is on the receiving end of passes, Rossi is just as good a distributor. One of the traits that makes him so versatile is the fact that he can make pick out passes as well as many midfielders. Moreover, he is an excellent dribbler, and he possesses enough agility and speed to out-work defenders.
His creative talent will be much needed at Fiorentina, who ranked 12th and 7th respectively in goals scored from counter attacks (2) and goals scored in open play (36). Forming a good partnership with Mo Salah and Khouma Babacar will be crucial, the former possessing no shortage of pace and the latter a domineering physical presence.
It is reported that the Italian-American striker has finally fully recovered from his right meniscus injury suffered last August. The injury was the second to his right knee in 2014, after spraining his right knee in January of that year. At that point he was Serie A’s leading goal scorer, with 14 goals in 18 games. To put that in perspective: the entire Fiorentina attack scored 19 goals all of this season.
If Mohamed Salah is there to stay, adding Rossi to the mix gives Fiorentina a solid front to build around. As previously mentioned, his partnership with Juan Cuadrado was excellent, and Salah showed signs filling the latter’s boots at points this season.
Fiorentina needs Pepito A talented group around him will be key to helping Rossi recapture lost form, and players like Salah, Borja Valero, Josip Ilicic and Matias Fernandez are going to be relied on to do so.
The post What a healthy Giuseppe Rossi means to Fiorentina appeared first on Italian Football Daily.
from Italian Football Daily http://ift.tt/1GwXGU1
via IFTTT berita selengkapnya Follow @jadwalliga
