While Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne are criticised for not bringing their club form to the international stage, Domenico Berardi has a lot to prove for Italy too.
At 27, he felt that being part of the Italy side that won UEFA EURO 2020 made him ready for the next step up in his career.
A move to Fiorentina had been suggested, but they could not meet the €35-40m asking price set by Sassuolo, so he remained, but that ambition has not gone away and another transfer is on the horizon.
Milan and Napoli appear to be most interested in his services, though neither of these clubs are particularly big spenders.
Berardi has been on extraordinary form for Sassuolo this season, scoring 14 goals and providing 14 assists in 27 Serie A games.
However, he never made quite the same impact for Italy, scoring six goals and with only two assists in 23 senior caps.
He found the net once in his last 12 Azzurri appearances, converting a decisive penalty in the Nations League third place final against Belgium.
Since becoming a father, he has also calmed the rather fiery nature that put off a lot of big clubs in the past, only receiving eight yellow cards this season and four last term.
This is a man who received six straight red cards in his Serie A career, along with 70 bookings in 265 matches.
Sempre Berardi
He will score
He will score 2 🙂
To be fair when he is on form, he is unstoppable. It all depends how his mind is and hopefully he will want to do well for Gli Azzurri and himself. Go on Domenico, let the World come to know what a good player you are.