Among the seasoned veterans of Italy’s under 21 setup, a new face has emerged in coach Luigi Di Biagio’s latest squad. Despite playing less than five professional matches, Sassuolo’s Leonardo Fontanesi has emerged onto the scene as one of Italy’s best under-the-radar young players.
What you need to know
Full name: Leonardo Fontanesi
Date of birth: February 20, 1996 (19 years old)
Position: Central defender/ right back
Nationality: Italian
Current club: Sassuolo
Height: 1.88 meters
International caps: None
Who is Leonardo Fontanesi?
A product of Sassuolo’s academy, Fontanesi’s journey into the neroverdi ranks began in 2013, when the then-18-year-old started featuring for the club’s Primavera squad. Making nearly 20 starts as a central defender, he marshaled the back line en route to an 8th place finish in the Campionato Primavera Girone B, improving over the previous year’s 11th place position. Continuing to play for Sassuolo’s youth team at the start of last season, his heroics at the heart of the defense attracted the attention of senior team coach Eusebio Di Francesco, who called Fontanesi to the main team in the beginning of March. Despite sitting on the bench for the majority of his first two months as a professional player, he was handed his official debut in a home tie against Palermo on May 2nd. Lining up as the club’s starting right back, he was faced with the daunting task of dealing with the dual threat of Achraf Lazaar and Paulo Dybala, as both aimed to exploit Sassuolo’s novice defender as much as possible. Not deterred in the slightest, Fontanesi maintained an extremely high level of play the entire match, comprehensively dealing with both the constant threat of Lazaar’s runs and the occasional Dybala burst down Palermo’s left flank. The match ended 0-0, and Fontanesi’s debut brought his team a hard-won clean sheet. Making two further starts in victories against AC Milan and Udinese, the 19-year-old ensured that Sassuolo ended the season strong, finishing in a respectable 12th place.
Fontanesi’s exploits as both a youth and professional player have earned the Sasssuolo prodigy a spot on the latest Italy U-21 squad, and he will be competing with Atalanta’s Andrea Conti for the start against Hungary on August 12th.
Strengths and weaknesses
Despite only recently becoming a professional footballer, Fontanesi has already demonstrated an uncharacteristically high level of play for someone his age. Highly intelligent, the neroverdi product uses his formidable size to his full advantage, making him a valuable asset during aerial situations. Possessing solid speed and technique, Fontanesi’s versatile attributes allowed him to transition into an unfamiliar role in the defense when making the switch from the Primavera to Sassuolo’s senior side.
Amazingly, despite playing less than a handful of matches in Serie A, the 19-year-old possesses no major weaknesses. Showing himself capable of adapting to new positions and performing against strong opposition, all that remains for Fontanesi to fix are slight mental hiccups.
2015/16 and beyond
Come the start of the season, Fontanesi should be featuring a lot more for the senior side. Though he will be competing for playing time with Sime Vrsaljko, the Croatian’s seemingly imminent transfer away from the neroverdi will leave the right back spot all for Fontanesi’s taking. Should Vrsaljko remain, then while the 19-year-old Sassuolo prodigy won’t feature week in and week out, he will continue to improve every match he plays, staking his claim as one of Italy’s brightest under-the-rader prospects.
The post Player Focus: Leonardo Fontanesi appeared first on Italian Football Daily.
from Italian Football Daily http://ift.tt/1IF1GC2
via IFTTT berita selengkapnya Follow @jadwalliga
