Striker Andrea Russotto ... Wise Beyond His Years
By Contributor Writer NINA
As part of our Olympic Games preparations, here I come with another report on
yet another exciting Italian player who is currently with our Azzurrini
preparing for the tournament.
Andrea Russotto was born in Rome in May 25, 1988 (two days after my birthday, couldn’t he just be a little early? two days perhaps lol) As a youngster he played for Lazio youth and was also part of Italy u-17 world cup team, a tournament in which he was regarded by many as one of the world’s most promising young talents. Some even called him the new Roberto Baggio. I try to avoid such farfetched comparisons nonetheless Russotto’s talent is incontestable. I know what you guys are thinking, oh no, not another Azzurrini player and a long blabber from Nina, but I promise to keep it short.
While at Lazio, purportedly, Russotto was given an ultimatum to either sign a deal with GEA agency, or to forget about his future with the team and the youngster bravely chose the latter. He was then sent out on numerous loan spells in what appeared to be the result of his decision regarding GEA which infuriated Lazio’s management. He was loaned out to clubs like Bellinzona, a team which plays in the Swiss league, and serie B side Treviso where Russotto played from 2005 to until recently when he joined Napoli. He also played for Cisco Roma for short period in 2005.
Russotto’s best playing position is that of a
trequartista, but he can also play as a forward or on the wings. He has
tremendous pace and is a great dribbler, he is the kind of player you would love
to watch if you like the excitement element in the game.
What I admire the most about Russotto is his will power and decision making ability which are astute beyond his years. Any other player in his shoes would have opted to make the easy and the comfortable decision, but Andrea chose to stand up for himself, and to stick with what he believed was best for him, even if it meant that the consequences were going to be cruel.
Personally, I’m thrilled at the fact that little Andrea gets to play not only in Serie A, but also with a side that believes in giving youngsters a chance to demonstrate their talents. Napoli has already in their squad the likes of Hamsik, Lavezzi, and Santacroce, who is also Russotto’s team mate in the Azzurrini.
Even though it is only a one year loan deal with an option to buy at the end of the season, yet it is still awfully sad that a team like Lazio who struggled lately in Serie A misses out on such talent. Most likely he won’t be back at Lazio after everything that happened between him and the management.
The Biancocelesti management can’t bully their players or force them into doing things they don’t want to do, and then expect them to remain with the team. When recently asked whether he was happy with the move to Napoli, Russotto replied,” Am I happy? No, I’m in seventh heaven”
I wish Russotto all the best with Italy’s Olympic National Team and also
with Napoli. He won’t get a starting position right away, but with his kind of
talent, he will work his way through into the regulars in no time. Lazio’s loss
is Napoli’s gain.
Related Story:
- RESULT Friendly Match: Italy Olympic 1 - 1 Romania U-21 Goal by Giuseppe Rossi and Stancu, July 22, 2008
- "To all the athletes who will represent Italy I wish to honour our country, to win,"Juventus Forward Alessandro Del Piero, July 16, 2008
As part of our Olympic Games preparations, here I come with another report on
yet another exciting Italian player who is currently with our Azzurrini
preparing for the tournament. Andrea Russotto was born in Rome in May 25, 1988 (two days after my birthday, couldn’t he just be a little early? two days perhaps lol) As a youngster he played for Lazio youth and was also part of Italy u-17 world cup team, a tournament in which he was regarded by many as one of the world’s most promising young talents. Some even called him the new Roberto Baggio. I try to avoid such farfetched comparisons nonetheless Russotto’s talent is incontestable. I know what you guys are thinking, oh no, not another Azzurrini player and a long blabber from Nina, but I promise to keep it short.
While at Lazio, purportedly, Russotto was given an ultimatum to either sign a deal with GEA agency, or to forget about his future with the team and the youngster bravely chose the latter. He was then sent out on numerous loan spells in what appeared to be the result of his decision regarding GEA which infuriated Lazio’s management. He was loaned out to clubs like Bellinzona, a team which plays in the Swiss league, and serie B side Treviso where Russotto played from 2005 to until recently when he joined Napoli. He also played for Cisco Roma for short period in 2005.
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What I admire the most about Russotto is his will power and decision making ability which are astute beyond his years. Any other player in his shoes would have opted to make the easy and the comfortable decision, but Andrea chose to stand up for himself, and to stick with what he believed was best for him, even if it meant that the consequences were going to be cruel.
Personally, I’m thrilled at the fact that little Andrea gets to play not only in Serie A, but also with a side that believes in giving youngsters a chance to demonstrate their talents. Napoli has already in their squad the likes of Hamsik, Lavezzi, and Santacroce, who is also Russotto’s team mate in the Azzurrini.
Even though it is only a one year loan deal with an option to buy at the end of the season, yet it is still awfully sad that a team like Lazio who struggled lately in Serie A misses out on such talent. Most likely he won’t be back at Lazio after everything that happened between him and the management.
The Biancocelesti management can’t bully their players or force them into doing things they don’t want to do, and then expect them to remain with the team. When recently asked whether he was happy with the move to Napoli, Russotto replied,” Am I happy? No, I’m in seventh heaven”
I wish Russotto all the best with Italy’s Olympic National Team and also
with Napoli. He won’t get a starting position right away, but with his kind of
talent, he will work his way through into the regulars in no time. Lazio’s loss
is Napoli’s gain.Related Story:
- RESULT Friendly Match: Italy Olympic 1 - 1 Romania U-21 Goal by Giuseppe Rossi and Stancu, July 22, 2008
- "To all the athletes who will represent Italy I wish to honour our country, to win,"Juventus Forward Alessandro Del Piero, July 16, 2008
Posted by Anna Italia at 7/30/2008 10:22 AM 
Categories: SSC Napoli, Italy Under 21 Team, 2008 Olympics
Categories: SSC Napoli, Italy Under 21 Team, 2008 Olympics
LOL the first thing I had to do was write in my calendar, Nina's B-day May 23
NO Nina, I love reading your post because u let me know about the past and the future of the Italian footballers!!!
Its sad how Italians teams doesn't give youngsters a chance
thanks for a nice post Nina
Reply to this
Milan,sweet as always,you are most welcome dear,I'm glad to enjoyed it.Let me know if there is anything in particular that you wanna know about.
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I meant,you enjoyed it lol.I seem to be typing the wrong things all day lol.
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That's so nice of u Nina! I want a post about Baggio PLEASE!!!!! I really want to know more about him!!!!
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Milan99, I too adore Roby Baggio, he along with Maldini and Baresi will forever remain among my all time favorite Italian players. It is hard to do Roby justice in one post, and it is difficult for me to put in words how I feel about Roby ,or to describe what he means for Italian football, but I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, look for a dvd with the title io Roby Baggio and his autobiography which fortunately for you, has a translation in English, so you can read all about Baggio. It is titled "Una Porta nel Cielo", you would love it so much believe me. I never put down that book and I finished it in few days.
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Gee thanks Girl, sure that will be help! I love reading specially when the book is interesting! sure reading about Roby Baggio would be INTERESTING!! thanks again!
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Hi Nina, nice post!
You sound like me talking about the not-so-popular young (under 21) players passionately.
I also look forward to seeing them get better in big clubs... I'm a fan of Antunes (now at Lecce), Manuel da Costa (not sure he's still at Fiorentina) sub 20 /21 players Bruno PInto, Fabio Coentrão, João Pereira, Miguel Veloso, and João Moutinho.
Tough to find other soccer fans interested in the youth of their favorite national team.
So keep on! You can even start a blog on Italy's youth team players/ results. You might find other fans who follow these youngsters
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Monica, thanks dear for your kind words. You are right, not many people follow youth tourneys and take interest in the not-so-popular players. Even my family who are big on Italian football, and who first introduced me to the game, have hard time understanding why I would be interested in youth tournaments. What I love about following this period of the players’ lives is that they play the game for the love of it and without having any external pressures, or the need to put on a show for the media. This is before the model girlfriends and the flashy sports cars, and that has certain innocence and charm that is hard to find with the famous ones. It makes me proud to see one of the kids I followed all along making it on the big stage.Btw,Mauel da costa is still listed on la viola's website as an active player, so I can only assume that he is still with them.
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Thanks for letting me know about Da Costa! He was great in the Under-21 tournament last year.
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You are most welcome.Prandelli likes youngsters, so I'm sure he will get his chance to shine soon with Fiorentina.
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Just wish Russotto a good future with Napoli, man, they are buidling a young team and time for Russotto to grow in the big league.
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Nina--great post! Are u sure there is an English version of Roberto Baggio's autobio?? i've been searching high and low for it!! hmmm....
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Nigel thank you, and yeah there is an English version of Baggio's autobiographies,I say autobiographies because I forgot to mention that there are two.The second one is titled "il songo dopo" or the dream after which is the new version of the first one.Here is a link that a friend of mine ordered his book from. I got mine, which is the first edition from a cousin who lives in Italy and it was in English.
http://www.liminaedizioni.it/griglia_libro.cfm?art_codice=55&codice_collana=1
You can also find it in many Italian bookstores in Canada.
Let me know if you have any problems ordering it.
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Btw,I forget to ask you, as a Lazio fan, what do you think about the way the management handled Russotto's case in those early years? I just read about the story on the papers, but not exactly sure of the details of the deal with GEA.
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