Charting Riccardo Orsolini’s rise for Bologna this season | OneFootball

Riccardo Orsolini had been touted as one of the most promising talents in Italian football over the last decade or so. In the 2017 FIFA Under-20 World Cup, Orsolini won the Golden Boot with 5 goals. He made his Serie B debut aged 16 and in 2017 was signed by Juventus for €6 million. But he didn’t get any first team action in Turin. A loan to Atalanta wasn’t particularly successful as well. Then he went to Bologna, where he has found a stable home. Now aged 28, Orsolini is having the best season of his career. In just 25 games, he has 12 goals and 3 assists in Serie A this season. He is 9th in the league for goal contributions and only two Italians – Moise Kean and Mateo Retegui are ahead of him. He has been a massive force in ensuring that Bologna have stayed in the top 4, in a season most expected them to struggle in. Orsolini plays as a right-winger, who loves cutting in on his left foot and doing the damage. This season he has an xG of 7.9 which means he is over performing it by a bit. He has some other very useful traits as well. He is quite strong in the air for a winger, winning his aeriel duels 58% of the time. Without the ball, he works hard too, as can be seen by the fact that he makes 1.47 blocks and 0.53 tackles per 90 minutes in his own defensive third. He is also taking a very healthy 3.34 shots a game. His dribbling numbers aren’t the best, given that he is attempting only 3.5 take ons and game as a winger and beating his man 43% of the time. His passing numbers don’t look the greatest as well and it is perhaps advisable to take them with a pinch of salt given that he is very frequently looking to put in crosses. Overall, while as wonderkid Orsolini perhaps could not live up to the hype, it does very much seem that his career is at a renaissance stage. Napoli are interested and going to big team where he will recieve more attacking support might see him explode and fulfill his earlier promise.