- | Domenico Berardi | -

Cassius wrote:WE HAVE SIGNED HIM!!!

In my opinion one of the top 3 if not the best italian youth international.

So hope he breaks into the first team in a year or 2.

Not gunna pretend i know worlds about him but i do know the boy got skills.

Our future left winger forward box to box striker

Cassius wrote:seemingly you watch more Serie B than me so ill definatly take your opinion into account, ill be watching sassajuve this year in Serie A (mostly due to Zaza and Berardi) and will form a better picture of what I think of him over that time but i can catagorically say he will not be the next lanzafame or any of them other jokers we had in the primavera like Palladino ect Berardi is much better and has already proved more at a younger age than any of them did at the ages from 19 to 23.

On another note Marrone has got to be one of the most overrated players at Juve. I remember when we 1st signed Pogba and people on here were debating was it worth it because we have Luca and i remember a post of mine saying something along the lines of 'pogba will make everyone forget about marrone', hes surplus now so im glad we swapped 50% of his rights for a young attacking player in Berardi.

Also on the Boakye to Elche situation i have faith that he will come back to juve and get a shot at the 1st team. Imo if we didnt have plans for him we would of loaned him about to serie B clubs like we d with 99% of our young players but that fact we loaned him to a spanish 1st division team seems odd to me. maybe its a sign we have more faith in him than we have had with others.

juvealbanian wrote:Berardi is very talented,also Moggi suggested Juve to buy him and considers Berardi one of the best italian talents.

Cassius wrote:Zaza is already 23 if im right and Berardi is 19 isnt he? thats 4 years of football ahead of Dominco, in that 3-4 years he can improve well beyond Zaza Imo.

On the marrone convo, Because hes simply not as good as being made out to be, the only reason he was at Juve for so long was because he was a youth product and his salary was next to nothing and he was a decent rotation player. asoon as we got Pogba he barly got a sniff of 1st team football and when he did it was in the centre of defense.. Dont get me wrong im not saying hes  poor player but people talk about Marrone like he's the next Marchisio or something. Hes shown promise of being a solid player but nothing beyond that. And at the age of 23 his time with a big top club should be and looks like it is coming to an end. The fact conte let him leave is testiment to this.

And yeah ha! Conte messed up calling Lanza the italian Ronaldo lol

Juvellinapoli wrote:What does age have to do with anything?? There are some players who are late bloomers; players like Hernanes, Pjanic, Gilardino etc. did not hit theirn stride until about 21-22. Simone Zaza is now playing his first season in Serie A, some players take longer to make their break (Giaccherini sound familiar??). Berardi is nothing, Sig bet; Berardi scores less than 6 goals all year, in all Competitions, deal?

Marrone was not let go by Conte, he's the one who wanted 1st-team football. Marrone is 23, meaning he has 1-2 years to Mature and hit the beginning of his prime; he will be a staple in the Juve midfield within the next 2 years, guaranteed!!

Yeah, Lanzafame is a clown

Casciavit wrote:A great article by whoscored, on the rise of Domenico Berrardi this season:

Player Focus: Berardi's Seamless Progression to Serie A Stardom
by James Horncastle at Thursday, Nov 14 2013 17:20

It’s a long journey, Cariati Marina to Modena. Almost the length of Italy. By car, it can take you eight or nine hours. Quite the road trip. But Domenico Berardi was keen to make it. He wanted to visit his brother Francesco who was studying there at university. So off he went up north. This was in 2010. It was a trip he’d never forget.  

Like many students, Francesco was involved in a five-a-side league. While Domenico was in town, he invited him to play. Only 15 at the time, the lads he came up against were bigger, stronger and older than he was, but not to worry. Berardi dominated. “Who was this kid?” That’s the question one of Francesco’s friends asked him afterwards. “He must be a professional.”

But Domenico wasn’t. Back home in Calabria, he couldn’t even find a club. Cosenza had taken a look at him and they liked what they saw. But they couldn’t afford to put him up in any digs. Luckily Francesco’s friend knew someone at nearby Sassuolo. That someone was Luciano Carlino, the head of the club’s youth system. Not too long afterwards, Berardi went for a trial. He got in.

For a time, there were some issues with his registration. He could only play friendlies. But Berardi was worth the wait. After a season with Sassuolo’s Allievi [their Under-16s], he was picked for the Primavera [their senior youth team]. “The first thing I thought when I saw him play is unprintable,” his coach Paolo Mandelli told Il Resto del Carlino. He knew Sassuolo had something special on their hands.

Brought into the first team squad by Fulvio Pea for their play-off with Sampdoria the season before last, Berardi made his debut under his successor Eusebio Di Francesco at the beginning of the 2012-13 campaign in Serie B. Cesena were the opponents. “This one’s from the Primavera, eh?” their centre-back Gianluca Comotto asked. He was incredulous.

Although Berardi didn’t score in Sassuolo’s opening day 3-0 win at the Dino Manuzzi, he’d pulled the veteran here, there and everywhere. A week later, he got his first senior goal at home to Crotone.  

Berardi would finish the season as Sassuolo’s joint top scorer, an honor he shared remarkably enough with three other teammates; Emanuele Terranova, Richmond Boakye and Leandro Pavoletti who all found the back of the net 11 times each. No wonder they got promoted. It was tense, though.

Crowned winter champions and top of the table for 18 straight weeks, Sassuolo needed one win from their last four games to reach Serie A for the first time in their history. Agonisingly, they lost the derby with Modena, drew with Padova and then Virtus Lanciano - Berardi scored in that encounter. It all came down to Livorno’s visit on the final day of the regular season. Lose and their opponents would leapfrog them into the automatic promotion places. Sassuolo held their nerve and won a game in which there were three red cards and seven yellows 1-0 to claim the Cadetto.

Interest in Berardi was understandably high after his part in their success. He’d been a revelation after all. Both Manchester clubs were supposedly scouting him. There was talk of offers from Napoli and Milan. He would stay for now. While negotiating the signing of the midfielder-cum-defender Luca Marrone in a co-ownership deal Sassuolo were told by his club Juventus that they could have a 50% stake in him if they in turn got 50% of Berardi, who would be loaned back to them for this season.

That suited them just fine. An agreement was reached. Juventus, it has to be said, are doing a fine job of essentially reserving Italy’s strikers of the future. They have the same arrangement with Manolo Gabbiadini at Samp [21] and Simone Zaza [22] at Sassuolo as they do with Berardi. All are considered top prospects. But that’s a story for another time. Let’s get back to Berardi.

Called up to Italy’s Under-19s over the summer, he made a mistake in not responding to the invite. Unable to offer an explanation, he was banned from representing his country for nine months and will only be eligible for selection again in March 2014. A clamour for reconciliation would grow louder soon after this season started and is becoming even noisier.  

Suspended for the first three games following the red card he received in that aforementioned game against Livorno, he didn’t appear in Serie A until after Sassuolo’s 7-0 destruction by Inter, the club he supports. At serious risk of the sack, Di Francesco changed the system from his Zdenek Zeman derived 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2, showed his players a betting slip indicating that they were 22-1 to win against next opponents Napoli, a motivational ploy, and brought Berardi back into the side. It kind of worked. They drew 1-1 and have only lost twice since.

In the meantime, Berardi has scored six in seven games. Of the Italians in Serie A only Giuseppe Rossi [10] and Alessio Cerci [7] have found the back of the net more. He is averaging a goal every 94 minutes and has a conversion rate of 32% [a stat that needed contexualising].

But Berardi is more than just a goalscorer. He can hold up play and come short. Of all the Serie A forwards to have started more than five games only Francesco Totti, Antonio Cassano, Carlos Tevez, Alessandro Matri, Rodrigo Palacio and Eder have averaged more key passes per game [1.4]. He puts himself about when out of possession too. No Serie A striker has averaged more tackles per game this season [1.5 - as many as Tevez].

“The impression you are left with when you watch him play is how natural Domenico expresses himself at every level,” Mandelli said. “Be it at youth level, in Serie B or in Serie A, Berardi always plays like this.” There’s a self-assurance about him, something the Italians call disinvoltura. Berardi is talented, but what really distinguishes him, at least according to Mandelli, is “a mental strength that’s out of the ordinary.”

Four of his goals have come from the penalty spot. You can scoff at that [and the distortion it puts on his goalscoring figures] but he’s won three of them himself. Only Hellas Verona striker Luca Toni has been awarded as many in Europe’s top five leagues. But whereas the World Cup winner leaves the penalty-taking duties to Jorginho, Berardi takes them himself. Just as Mario Balotelli is respected for the coolness he shows from 12 yards out, so too should he be. His hat-trick against Samp comprised two penalties. And he’s just 19. Look at the players to have scored a tripletta in Serie A by that age: Silvio Piola, Giuseppe Meazza, Felice Borel, Alessandro Del Piero [against Parma in 1994]. Esteemed company. Then of course, there’s Francesco Grandolfo.

Remember how he scored a hat-trick on his first appearance for Bari against Bologna back in May, 2011 - a game, incidentally that later came under scrutiny in the Calcioscommesse investigation? He was just 18. Not since Igor Protti in September 1996 had a Bari player hit a tripletta in the top flight. Hailed as the next big thing, Grandolfo’s tale is a cautionary one. He’s now playing for Savona down in Italy’s third tier.

Expectations around Berardi need to be kept in check. But there’s talent here. Lots of talent. Il Berra or Berardinho as he’s known is definitely one to watch over the course of the season.

http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/kx1comnno0uthh6fsbrqew/Show/Player-Focus-Berardis-Seamless-Progression-to-Serie-A-Stardom

habsky wrote:Given the average age of Juve's squad right now, I'm very happy that we actually own (or co-own) potential players like Berardi, Gabbiadini, and Zaza.