While Serie A struggles to match the financial muscle of the big boys in Europe, PSG and Real Madrid did battle in the Champions League last night, going head to head with two of the most expensive football teams ever assembled. A sort of mockery to Serie A, really. There were two Italians featured. Thiago Motta and Marco Verratti. Of course Motta’s nationality is actually up for debate, but there is no doubt about Marco Verratti.
It almost seems unfair that lovers of Italian football have been treated to the cool, calm and collected stylings of Andrea Pirlo for a little over a decade, and are now witnessing Marco Verratti. It’s a bit of a lazy comparison to call Verratti Andrea Pirlo 2.0, but the similarities are definitely there.
Since 2013, the Marco Verratti bandwagon has been growing in stature with every game played. The average fan does not watch much of Ligue 1, but PSG’s attempts to venture deep into the Champions League have allowed fans to see more and more of the smooth kid from Pescara. PSG’s unlikely victory over eventual Premier League champions Chelsea last year was the long awaited signature European win PSG had been craving. And Verratti was sublime.
The Verratti bandwagon is now full and sorry, we’re not taking new applications. The 22 year old Verratti went up against a Real Madrid midfield of Isco, Kroos and Casemiro. It’s almost a shame the sensual Luka Modric was on the bench, so we could’ve seen Verratti against a full strength Real Madrid midfield. Much like Andrea Pirlo in his early playing career, a lot of his work went unnoticed until people started pointing it out. The old phrase ‘Watch the game and you’ll see ___, watch ____ and you’ll see the game’ comes to mind. Verratti dictated the midfield like very few in world football can, and he’s only 22. His discipline has improved greatly over the past 18 months, his positional awareness leaves nothing to be desired, and his understanding of the beautiful game is arguably unparalleled for a player of his age.
(JEAN-SEBASTIEN EVRARD/AFP/Getty Images)
But he plays for Paris Saint Germain, a French club bankrolled by oil riches. Verratti was highly rated when he moved to PSG in 2012. He won best player in Serie B for the 2011-12 season, playing for Pescara along with Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne. And was promptly snapped up by a club with a vision of conquering Europe and revolutionising their history.
Italy has a…volatile history with players plying their trade abroad. See: Gianfranco Zola. How could Italy let such a talent slip away? Spain’s best player plays in Spain, England’s in England, Germany’s is…up for debate. But for a country with such a high level of national pride, shouldn’t Verratti be entertaining Italians on Sundays?
All eyes are on Juventus. It’s not their fault. Their midfield looked to be stacked in 2012 (and was) and Verratti was not guaranteed a starting place. But they are the premier club in Italy, they are the ones with the most money, who usually snap up the best talent.
This is the same summer that PSG brought Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva from PSG, Milan couldn’t afford Verratti, neither could Inter, or Roma, or anyone in Italy. PSG could and did outbid everyone. There was interest for Verratti, naturally.
The truth is, Verratti donning the dark purple of PSG is a metaphorical kick to the teeth to everyone in Italy.
“Hey, we, have your best national talent (player?), and we’re a French club.”
(Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)
It’s also a mockery to Serie A from the perspective of other leagues, that Italian talents can be picked up and the only temptations Serie A teams can offer is a native tongue and the fact they’re playing in a domestic league. But the key temptation, the one that plays on humans’ key survival skill, greed, is money.
Verratti playing abroad is just another (final?) nail in the coffin that Serie A is drastically falling behind the other top five European leagues. In fact, it begs the question, would Verratti have progressed as he has at PSG, playing in Italy? If not, then another issue is brought up in that Italy have an issue with developing talents.
People can shrug this off as a one off, but we’ll see. PSG will most definitely get to at least the Champions League quarter finals, which means we have about another seven games of Verratti’s brilliance. Of course you’re more than welcome to tune into some Ligue 1, but seeing Verratti go head to head with the best midfielders in Europe is something of a turn on.
So, the next time you see Marco Verratti playing alongside his usual buddies Blaise Matuidi and Thiago Motta, just imagine it as another bump on the head of a nail, into the metaphorical talent coffin of Serie A. Maybe the FIGC should implement a law that every top club in Italy is awarded the best player in Serie B every season, to ensure this never happens again, sort of like the NBA lottery.
Verratti has stated he wishes to return to Italy one day, and most notably Pescara. But it’ll likely be when his talent is diminishing and it’ll be more of a final goodbye than anything. He really is looking like the one that got away.
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