Provedel produces miracles for the salvation of Spezia which now wants to armor it

UDINE

Among Udinese’s opponents in the race for salvation there is a goalkeeper whom they know very well in Friuli. The protagonist is Ivan Provedel, La Spezia’s number one, former Juventus Primavera player and a native of Cecchini di Pasiano. Together with the Ligurians, the 27-year-old from Pordenone is experiencing a magical moment. He has won three victories in the last four games and a few days ago, at the Meazza with Milan, he was one of the best on the pitch. Last season was already decisive in the permanence in the category of the group, then coached by Vincenzo Italiano.

Now he wants an encore. And to think that in La Spezia, in the autumn of 2020, he arrived to make the “third” behind Zoet and Rafael …

After six months on loan in Serie B at Juve Stabia, in which he also scored a header at Ascoli, at the end of the 2019-2020 season Provedel returned to Empoli, the club that owned his property at the time. On the pitch, with the Campania players, he was relegated to Serie C. During the transfer market, relative to his account, nothing moved. At the last, the Ligurian bianconeri showed up, newly promoted to A. Lost another Friulian, Scuffet, who had returned to Udinese, had already signed Zoet and Rafael. “I was desperate, out of everything,” Provedel said in an interview with Veneto messenger. He accepted the new challenge proposed to him. Nobody promised him anything. But in the fourth round of the championship he was already a starter. From then on his great season started: 29 races and salvation – miraculous – conquered. Even this year, however, the Pordenone player was not included in the starting eleven. La Spezia had decided to focus on Zoet. After seven games, however, the entry among the owners. A place he has never left.

Born as a forward, with a past in the Pordenone youth teams, Provedel is now one of the most followed goalkeepers in Serie A, a category in which he scored his 60th appearance with Milan. The Ligurians have already exercised the option to renew his contract until 2023, but his agent Gianni Rava is working with the company to extend the bond. Spezia can become his home. And in some ways it already is. So far he has played 44 games with the Juventus club: with none of the previous six clubs he had collected so many games. With Empoli, with whom he had made his debut in Serie A on 21 October 2018, he had in fact stopped at 42, with Pro Vercelli at 41. The new ownership of the club, led by US financier Robert Platek, is ambitious. Although it cannot operate on the market for this and the next four sessions, following the blockade imposed on it by FIFA, it has nevertheless shown last summer to lay the foundations to remain in the category. And Provedel gladly evaluates the fact of continuing to wear these colors, capable of giving him a chance that perhaps not even he expected.

Meanwhile, led by Thiago Motta, former midfielder of his favorite team, Inter, the goalkeeper dreams of winning the second salvation in a row. In front of two fundamental matches, the derby with Sampdoria (again entrusted to Marco Giampaolo) and the challenge to Salernitana. In the wake of the latest performances, you can dream big. And Udinese will closely observe the results of their rival. –