Morimoto in Novara, Piazon in Chievo and many others.
How many times, reading old articles or looking at old photos, have you asked yourself something like “Did this footballer really play there?”, as if his presence in a certain context were so improbable as to have led you to erase it from your memory? Ok, maybe it never happened, but dive with us into this journey into the recent past of Serie A; we can’t promise you that you will be enriched by it, but it will certainly leave you a little bewildered, as we imagine certain players were when they accepted certain destinations.
Darijo Srna – Cagliari
We remember his name from the 2006 World Cup, as he sounded so good paired with Dado Prso, then we learned to know him as one of the fixed faces of the Champions League in the Shakhtar shirt, but who would have ever expected to see Dario Srna at the Sardegna Arena together with Pavoletti, Lykogiannis and another improbable one like the European vice-champion Ragnar Klavan? His experience in Cagliari is not dazzling, however we are talking about a full-back who was 36 years old in 2018, but absolutely worthy: 26 appearances and 4 assists, of which 3 for his friend Pavoletti with whom he immediately develops that elective affinity between a crosser and header, and a dubious red card against Roma. Srna and Cagliari greet each other with affection after only one year, the Croatian is still inquiring about the fate of the rossoblu, to whom he paid homage with a heartfelt letter at the time of farewell.
To celebrate his 37th spring, Cagliari retraced Darione’s career in an animated key, a little gem.
Egidio Arevalo Rios – Palermo
In the wake of Rommedahl, Asamoah Gyan and Kawashima, Egidio Arevalo Rios he certainly belonged to that group of players who seem to suddenly appear in our lives every 2 or 4 years, on the occasion of continental tournaments or the World Cup. In his very long career, a worthy member of the dynasty of tireless and hyperdynamic midfielders that Uruguay has always carried forward, there is also a small visit to Palermo, between 2012 and 2013 at the court of Sannino-Gasperini-Malesani-Gasperini-Sannino (we miss you Paw). Unforgettable parenthesis both for the rosanero, relegated at the end of the season, and for the player, far from the glories achieved with the Celeste shirt. An anecdote by Mauro Cetto (exactly) describes well what was happening in Palermo at that time: “6-7 other teammates and I trained separately, but the most emblematic case was Arevalo Rios: he trained alone every day and used another dressing room, but then on Sunday he played in the starting lineup. Something never seen”.
Pablo Estifer Armero – Milan
Remembering Pablo Armero’s season with the Rossoneri is really complicated even for the most ardent Rossoneri fans, let alone for the neutrals who in all probability remember him for his bucking on the wing in Udine and for the decidedly less exciting period in Naples. The Armero who arrives in Milan under the orders of Pippo Inzaghi completes a full-back department worthy of Romero, not the central defender but the director of horror films, made up of the Colombian, De Sciglio, Albertazzi, Antonelli and the declining Abate and Zaccardo . Nonetheless Armero, who in 2014 had returned from an overall good World Cup, put together just 8 appearances for Milan, an omen of the definitive twilight of a career that ended in 2019, at just 33 years old.
Name a more iconic duo.
Gabriel Heinze and Simon Kjaer – Rome
Anno domini 2011, the new Rome of the Americans entrusts Luis Enrique and Walter Sabatini with the delicate work of reconstruction, after the farewells of key players of previous years such as Doni, Mexes, Riise and Vucinic; many protagonists of the yellow and red transfer campaign deserve to end up in this column, but among the many we have chosen the central couple, who danced (in every sense) in the capital for only one season. Heinze, who arrived on a free transfer, was already creaky in Madrid, while Kjaer, who landed in Trigoria on the last day of the transfer market, will turn out to be a distant relative of both the rampant central defender admired in Palermo just a couple of seasons earlier, and the leader who a decade later will guide Milan towards the Scudetto. Heinze gets by as best he can, more or less with dignity, Kjaer instead shipwrecks quickly, with the penalty+red card in the derby and the own goal against Juve as highlights of his season. “Heinze is mad, after a month he said that Totti shouldn’t be the captain anymore,” ex teammate Cicinho said of him.
No caption needed.
Kevin Constant – Bologna
“But like Messi and Ronaldo, my idol is not / neither Maradona nor Pele / my idol is a full-back who when the stakes are raised / makes the elastic and the tunnel my idol is Constant”. We are in 2016, the time (actually quite circumscribed) in which the Milan fans hoped for Kevin Constant to the point of dedicating songs to him is already far away, the French-Guinean left-handed who blossomed in Chievo has returned from a year and a half quite opaque with the Trabzonspor shirt, so as to bring him to the termination. Pantaleo Corvino here shows us that even the greats can make mistakes, bringing Constant to Bologna in the winter market; the good Kevin fails to oust Masina from the starting left-back box, in 4 months he takes the field as a starter just twice, the last in the very heavy 6-0 inflicted on the rossoblu by Sarri’s Napoli, and at the end of the season he remains again without a contract .
Louis Saha – Lazio
For some years, Lazio had the purchase of at least one highly unlikely striker in the January transfer market as a nice hobby: Giuseppe Sculli in 2011, Emiliano Alfaro in 2012, Helder Postiga in 2014 are among the most representative of this small dynasty. In between there was space, in the winter of 2013, for Louis Saha, champion of everything with Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, who after 13 seasons in the Premier League tried to arrest his downward spiral by emigrating to Serie A for a few months, at almost 35 years of age. Del Saha seen on the pitch there is very little to tell, Petkovic gives him just 126′ spread over 6 games of which only one played from 1′, so of his adventure in the biancoceleste he remembers more than anything else the visit together with Lotito to Papa Francesco, before the Capitoline derby in the Italian Cup final, that of Lulic 71. Predictably, at the end of the season he decides to announce his farewell to football.
In this video, in addition to the refinement of Ogenyi Onazi (who plays in Bahrain today), you can admire Saha’s most exciting moment in the Lazio shirt.
Lucas Piazon – Chievo
London, Malaga, Arnhem, Frankfurt, Reading, Verona, Vila do Conde, Braga, Rio de Janeiro. It is not the itinerary of an improbable and schizophrenic interrail, but the career of Lucas Piazon, promising Brazilian talent followed by Juve and then ended up, as soon as he was of age, at Chelsea for 7.5 million euros. Piazon, who landed in Verona on the Chievo bank in 2019, is no longer a boy, let alone a promise, but a now 25-year-old footballer desperate for a relaunch after half a season of inactivity. Somehow, his entourage and Chelsea come to think that the right environment in which to meet could be Mimmo Di Carlo’s last Chievo, the one that will finish in last place and within a couple of years will declare the failure. A Piazon who is not entirely in his own right will speak of “possible salvation” on the day of the presentation, the Brazilian is clearly an alien in Verona, and in 4 appearances (never since 1′) from February to May he will leave almost no trace, before to leave for his very personal journey around the world which seems not to be finished yet.
Takayuki Morimoto – Novara
Surely at the time we saw less football, certainly the fans were less bombarded with information, statistics, fact sheets and insights, but is there really anyone who, as the 2000s approached, would not have bet on Takayuki Morimoto’s talent? In Catania he is first a promising youngster, then a luxury reserve capable of splitting the games in the final with his shots, then something runs aground when Cholo Simeone arrives in Sicily, then Maremoto decides to emigrate to the north, applying to become the star of the newly promoted Novara di Tesser. Things won’t go exactly like this: Morimoto gets off to a good start scoring against Cagliari and his “his” Catania and providing an assist in Novara’s historic victory against Inter, then injuries, some dull performances and competition from his friend Peppe Mascara, who arrived in January, will keep him further and further away from the pitch. Today, after returning to play in Japan for 6 years with visits to Greece and Paraguay as well, he is in Serie D at Akragas, in his spare time he raises beetles.
Wouldn’t you like to prank Morimoto too?
Cristiano Piccini – Atalanta
Being a Gasperini winger is hard work, but someone has to do it, right? Among the many wing sliders who slingshot into the area like Bolt, it happens that every now and then the good Gasp takes a blunder and fishes a lateral who just can’t rise to superman like his team mates. The credentials of Cristiano Piccini they would also be good, Betis Sevilla, Sporting Lisbon and Valencia are not everyone’s curriculum, but in Bergamo in 2020 a player arrives in Bergamo who has suffered a fractured kneecap, who has been experiencing problems since the early days with Atalanta, so much so that already in September Gasperini he will say that “we need to understand if it can come in handy soon, otherwise it will put us in difficulty”. Piccini will play only 59 minutes in the nerazzurri, against Spezia, before returning early to Valencia. The full-back recently spoke about his adventure in the Orobic land without making big discounts: “They knew my condition but made me feel like an invalid, initially they were supposed to give me a month of retraining before being part of the team, instead they immediately put me in the group. I needed help and I didn’t find it, it was a nightmare, it seemed like they wanted to sink me instead of helping me”.
Even here Cristiano didn’t really seem like the face of enthusiasm
Bacary Sagna – Benevento
Almost 260 appearances in the Premier League with the noble shirts of Arsenal and Manchester City, 65 tokens with the French national team, two World Cups and a second place at Euro 2016, but do you want to put the possibility of ending your career at the Ciro Vigorito stadium in Benevento? “A choice of heart and soul”so he will define it Bacary Sagnawho in February 2018 made himself available to Roberto De Zerbi, who also recently arrived in yellow and red. “Benevento represents everything a football team should be: passion, heart, hope, joy, love and a philosophy aligned with mine”, the good Bacary will add, who after 5 years from the last time is also back to scoring, in the 3-3 draw against Roma. The schemes of the new coach, the experience of the transalpine full-back and the goals of the impromptu phenomenon Diabaté deceive the Samnite fans, but it is a flash in the pan, so much so that the relegation is sanctioned even with 4 games to spare. Di Sagna’s gratitude will remain, reiterated even when he is now far from Benevento, in Montreal with the Impact shirt, the last of his career as a footballer.