Player Focus: Paloschi Giving Himself a Chance of Going to Brazil
Seven years ago, La Gazzetta dello Sport’s weekend supplement Sportweek predicted what Italy’s first team would look like at the 2014 World Cup. Features like this almost always leave the publication in question open to ridicule and this was no different. Hindsight after all is a wonderful thing. Of the XI names put forward, only one looks absolutely certain to be in Brazil and if Wednesday’s Il Corriere dello Sport is to be believed even his place in the starting line up is no longer secure. The identity of that individual: Mario Balotelli.
His wasn’t the only familiar face. There was Domenico Criscito’s too. Actually, expect him to be on the plane with Balotelli too. Alberto Aquilani, another Sportweek candidate, probably won’t be, however, when you consider the fierce competition he faces in midfield, though it must be said he was very impressive for Fiorentina at the weekend, scoring twice in a 5-3 win against Verona. Then there was another Alberto, surname Paloschi. Remember him?
He must have been 17 at the time that this particular issue of Sportweek went to print. His inclusion was understandable. Paloschi had just won the Scudetto with Milan’s Allievi, finding the net 23 times and firing a hat-trick past Genoa in the final. There was a lot of hype around him. And it seemed justified when the youngster made his first appearance in the league for Milan in the spring of 2008.
Replacing Serginho in the 18th minute of the second half, the 18-year-old scored the only goal of the game with his first touch just 18 seconds after coming on. It was the fastest debut strike in Serie A history. There was an irony of sorts too. That Milan team was probably the oldest ever with an average age of 33. Standing on the sideline at San Siro, Carlo Ancelotti looked so happy he might cry.
Paloschi had been at the club since he was 12. His idol was Pippo Inzaghi whose No.9 shirt hung on his bedroom wall. Paloschi had even persuaded his parents to call his brother Filippo after him. To think within seconds of coming on to play alongside Super Pippo he had scored.
“I thought it would have taken him at least seven or eight minutes…” Ancelotti joked. “I even thought about starting him, but I didn’t want to put too much pressure on the boy. He seems predestined: with three goals in three games [Paloschi had also scored in both legs of Milan’s Coppa Italia tie with Catania] he’s got the best ratio in the team.”
That evening Paloschi was made to pay for everybody’s pizza. Speaking between slices, Inzaghi reminded everyone: “I had said it already before the game: with this kid and the other youngsters that we have [Alex Pato was also only a teenager back then] our attack is in place for the next 10 years.”
For a time, Paloschi was held up as Milan’s answer to Inter’s Balotelli. They were the same age and from the same part of Italy, often meeting as kids on the pitches around Brescia. But only one would come to represent the future of the Derby della Madonnina. Flash forward to the present and it’s Balotelli playing up front for Milan. They still co-own Paloschi but for years he has been out in the provinces at Parma, Genoa and now Chievo.
“The big clubs want players who are ready because they always have to win,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport earlier this month, “Some of us need go on a bit of a journey before showing our best.” At 24, Paloschi is beginning to show it now. Only Torino striker Ciro Immobile has scored more goals (11) in Serie A in 2014. Paloschi incidentally has as many as Mattia Destro and Luca Toni this calendar year [10]. And after breaking into double figures for the first time, his hat-trick against Sassuolo last week took his total this season up to 13. Incidentally, if Paloschi were still at Milan, that would make him their joint top scorer in the league with Balotelli.
He has the 4th best conversion rate (23.6%) among players to have struck 10 or more times in Serie A in the current campaign. His goals have come from just 26 shots on target. Paloschi has also taken the 4th fewest touches per goal (53.7) behind Destro (27.1), Giuseppe Rossi (48.5) and Immobile (50.5). “I am more sure of myself, more consistent,” Paloschi explained. “I go into games with greater peace of mind, knowing that I’ve worked well during the week whereas before I let myself be consumed by a thousand paranoias.”
Though included in a group of 42 players who underwent a series of physical tests at the beginning of this week at Coverciano, Paloschi isn’t expected to make Cesare Prandelli’s final Italy squad. Many believe that their five forwards will be Balotelli, Rossi [if fit] or Immobile, Destro or Gilardino, Alessio Cerci and Lorenzo Insigne. They’re the hot names. But Paloschi’s is heating up.
“If I were to play just one game for the Azzurri I’d already consider myself very fortunate,” Paloschi said. He’ll need a lot of luck to get to Brazil. But you make your own luck in life and by scoring at the rate he is at the moment, Paloschi is at least giving himself the slightest chance.
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