Player Focus: Luca Cigarini (Atalanta)

"Technically he's very good and can play with both feet. He sits just in front of the defence and from there channels the play. He's perfectly suited to the type of game we play at this club." Those were the words of Sporting Director Ramón Rodríguez upon his club Sevilla announcing the signing of midfielder Luca Cigarini back in August 2010. Their capture of the then 23 year old who could be described as the most ‘Spanish’ of Italian midfielders seemed an ideal move by the La Liga club, his characteristics appearing to be a perfect fit for the country which brought the methodical tiqui-taca approach to the forefront of world football.

Yet just ten months later the Italian returned to parent club Napoli having made a meagre nine appearances in a move which simply failed to work. The player himself told Corriere dello Sport he “was stuck on the outside and had to leave” the Andalusian club and, while it is difficult to definitively ascertain what led to his exile at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, it is much simpler to see how it may well have been the best outcome for the player.

Having first came to prominence at Parma in 2005 he had, before moving abroad just five years later, transferred between four different clubs and really failed to settle at any, switching from the Gialloblu to Sambenedettese, then returning to the Parma before subsequently moving first to Atalanta and finally landing at Napoli in 2009. At the Stadio Tardini outfit he was brought into the first team by current Italian national team boss Cesare Prandelli who labelled him ‘il Professore’ for his thoughtful and intelligent approach to the game.

Cigarini’s real breakthrough however would come two years later as Claudio Ranieri arrived with the club on the brink of relegation having gone through four coaches in the two seasons following Prandelli’s departure for Roma. In eleven starts – only two of which were losses – during the former Chelsea coach’s sixteen match stint the player would net one goal and add three assists. He would cement his place as a regular member of the first team the following season when he registered five goals and three assists in 27 starts under Mimmo Di Carlo but his fine form was sadly not enough to avoid relegation and as their eighteen year spell in Serie A ended. Cigarini moved on, enjoying another productive season as Atalanta finished comfortably in mid-table under Gigi Delneri.

Those two campaigns saw him become a regular for the Italy Under-21 side which won the 2008 Toulon tournament and he was regarded as a potential successor to Andrea Pirlo for the full squad, the similarities in their playing styles making him seem an ideal candidate. That dream would have to wait however as he struggled to break into the Napoli midfield, starting just eleven games before heading off to Spain.

Now back at Atalanta, the 25 year old is enjoying perhaps his best ever season as part of a young, vibrant squad which has overcome the six point penalty – imposed after they were implicated in last summers betting scandal – to now sit in tenth place and well clear of an immediate return to Serie B. That seemed highly unlikely back in August when talismanic Captain Cristiano Doni was banned and imprisoned for his role in the match-fixing trials.

Far from handicapping the Bergamo side, the loss of their playmaker-in-chief freed Coach Stefano Colantuono to hand over the keys of his midfield to a fantastic array of talent as he fielded Ezequiel Schelotto, Giacomo Bonaventura, Maximiliano Moralez and Carlos Carmona alongside Cigarini in the middle of the park. They have protected the defence admirably – conceding just 34 goals, fewer than all but three teams – whilst providing striker Germán Denis with the ammunition to score his fifteen goals thus far.

Cigarini himself has played a major role in that success and, while his relatively low return of one goal and two assists in Serie A may not seem too high, his statistics in other areas make for interesting reading. He is currently averaging 6.93 in the WhoScored.com ratings system, the fourth highest at the club while only two regular starters can better his 80.7% pass completion rate.

He averages however, twenty passes more than any other player at the club, making 61 per game, a total only topped by eight others in the league as a whole. His long range passing has been particularly superb, completing 222 of 294 (75.5%) which again is a club high (Moralez is second with just 56) and sees him ranked sixth in Serie A. Cigarini also sits eighth in the league for through balls with 0.6 per game.  None of this is unexpected given that his passing was always excellent – and clearly a major factor in the interest of foreign clubs – but he is also excelling in other areas with which he is not as readily associated.

He has made a surprisingly impressive 107 tackles at an average of 3.8 per game which is only bettered by six other players on the peninsula whilst also making 2 interceptions per game. It is important to note that Cigarini’s statistics for passing, tackling, interceptions, blocks and through balls are all higher than any midfielder at parent club Napoli, a fact the Southern side might be wise to remember come the end of the current campaign. Having now made his full Italy debut for Prandelli, a coach who has always admired his qualities, it seems unlikely he will remain in Bergamo and his passing and defensive capabilities will be in much demand.