🇮🇹 Leoni is just the latest, how would Italy look today without injuries? 🚑 | OneFootball

Italy struggles to produce new talents, especially in the attacking area, but the National Team is also heavily in credit with bad luck, and Leoni’s injury is just the latest example.

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Because new prospects are not abundant, but an Italy without injuries would have been different, especially in attack.

An attack with Scamacca, Zaniolo, and Chiesa in their prime

ZANIOLO

We remember Nicolò Zaniolo’s first appearances: an attacking midfielder with the physical burst to play as a winger, the ball control skills to operate in the attacking third, the ability to make runs into the box to score, and a great shot from outside the area.

Zaniolo played only 69 matches with Roma before tearing his cruciate ligament for the first time. In those 69 games, he scored 14 goals, including a Champions League brace against Porto and 3 consecutive goals in 2019 against Milan, Udinese, and Napoli.

An Italy with Zaniolo’s dynamism between midfield and attack, with Chiesa (fully fit) on the wing and a Scamacca free from physical problems as a reference point, would look completely different.

CHIESA

Bad luck then struck Federico Chiesa as well: in two consecutive Serie A seasons, he managed to score 10 and 9 goals, a two-year period crowned by the European Championship where he was a protagonist with two decisive (and beautiful) goals against Austria and Spain.

That summer, Juventus – according to Corriere dello Sport and Repubblica – turned down two €100 million offers from Chelsea and Liverpool. Today it seems almost heretical, but back then it was simply a logical choice.

The following year he started more slowly and in January tore his cruciate ligament: from that moment he has never been the same, still an important player (9 goals in Serie A 22/23) but not the constant threat he was during that 2021 European Championship.

SCAMACCA

Italian players capable of scoring more than 15 goals in a single league season have been few in recent years: Retegui and Kean last year, Immobile (in 2022), and Scamacca (also in 2022).

A 23-year-old with plenty of room for improvement who, however, immediately ran into problems at West Ham, and not just with settling in. There were many injuries, particularly to his knee, and starting in January he was forced to have surgery in April.

The return to Atalanta was excellent: 12 goals, a few muscle injuries, and then two serious injuries last season, which never really got started. When he plays, he shows how strong he can be, but even this season he has already had to stop. Another debt to fate for the National Team.

Leoni, the future leader of the defense

Now bad luck has struck Leoni, who after moving to Liverpool and being one of the best on the pitch in his League Cup debut against Southampton, tore his cruciate ligament in the 81st minute.

Fortunately, Italy is fairly well covered in defense thanks to Bastoni, Mancini, Calafiori, and Buongiorno (both prone to injuries), but the future leader of the Azzurri defense has already suffered his first setback. Yet another toll that bad luck has demanded from young Italians.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

📸 FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA