Stephan El Shaarawy’s elegant brace against Empoli last Saturday marked the return of one of Italy’s great hopes
By: Stephen Ganavas
Il Faraone or ‘The Pharaoh’ as he is called, seemed destined for greatness when he arrived at the San Siro to play for AC Milan as an 18-year-old; commanding a transfer fee of €15.5 million for his former club Genoa in the process.
In what seemed like a love affair fated by the ancient Egyptian gods, El Shaarawy appeared to have a positive influence on his team-mates whenever he took the field. In his debut season, he played twenty-two times, with Milan picking up 2.32 points-per-game whenever he took the field, compared to 1.81 points-per-game without him.
While Milan began to falter during the 2012/13 season, their wonder-kid was not suffering the same downturn, as he embarked on a run of fourteen goals in fourteen games early in the season.
However, it became apparent that the love affair with Milan was ill-fated. The 23-year-old scored just two more times in twenty league games to end the season, but could be forgiven for thinking that a barren run in front of goal was the last of his problems.
During the 2013/14 campaign, the injuries arrived as muscle problems and successive metatarsal fractures meant that foot surgery was required. The injury to his foot flared once again late last season, crippling a second successive year; meaning that the Italian played just 1,408 league minutes in two seasons, scoring only three times.
Eventually, the decision was made for El Shaarawy to sever ties with AC Milan after being presented with the opportunity to move abroad to AS Monaco. However, the Italian struggled to find his feet in France, as he continued working to regain confidence in his body and fitness while attempting to adapt to a new environment in a new country. It showed in his football, as the ex-Genoa winger looked well off the pace in twenty-four predominantly substitute appearances for the principality club.
In something of a transfer twist, El Shaarawy now finds himself at AS Roma under the tutelage of inspiring figure Luciano Spaletti, whose arrival in the capital has ignited a Roman renaissance in 2016. His nurturing of the precocious talent has already been noticeably excellent, as he has instilled the confidence the 23-year-old’s game has been lacking since his injury problems started to arise in 2013. This has largely been instigated by Spaletti’s ongoing faith in the talent of the Italian, which saw El Shaarawy start in his first game available for the capital club and strike a confidence-boosting and vitally important goal as Roma beat Frosinone 3-1.
Tactically, Spaletti’s handling of Il Faraone has been masterful as well. He has set the starlet free, allowing him to roam on the left with license to zone off into the central spaces created by Edin Dzeko or left clear by interchanging team-mates when no recognised striker is fielded. This interchanging style has suited the Italian perfectly, as he does his best work without being shackled to a strongly defined position on the pitch. His ability to hit the channel just inside of traditional left-wing position has always been his best asset, and working in tandem with French left-back Lucas Digne, the pair have caused havoc with their excellent and unpredictable movement in overloading the left flank.
During the Empoli match though, the most evident aspect of El Shaarawy’s improving game was his hard running, and simultaneously his reward for effort. His two goals were created through a mixture of both his wonderful technical ability and his willingness to create space and unlock the opposition defence with clever incisive diagonal movements.
The first was a tantalising curling rocket from thirty-five yards which was created through a neat run in between the midfield and defensive lines of Empoli. The second, a tap-in after a counter-attacking run and delightful pass from the Italian set up team-mate Mohamed Salah for a strike that was parried into the path of the onrushing El Shaarawy, who had continued his run from deep in midfield in order to reap the benefits of his own creative work.
Evidently, Il Faraone and Roma will both be hoping that this is not simply good form. Instead, there will be hope that this is purely a sign of what the capital club should be expecting from El Shaarawy on a regular basis. Few in Italy doubt the precocious talent has the ability to completely open up games on his own, but those doubts will linger on over whether he has the mental fortitude to consistently impose himself throughout matches.
With eleven matches left to play this season for Roma, and Champions League football still up for grabs in Serie A, Roma will be needing this consistency more than ever.
Bow your heads everyone, the Pharaoh has returned.
The post Stephan El Shaarawy: The Forgotten Pharaoh Discovered In Rome appeared first on IFD.
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