Former striker Marco Borriello believes Lazio striker Ciro Immobile ‘doesn’t suit’ the Azzurri’s style of play and claimed Italian football is ‘not doing very well’ despite the success at the Euros.
Roberto Mancini’s Italy won the European Championship this summer, but former Milan, Juventus and Roma striker Borriello doesn’t think Serie A has ‘the appeal’ of other leagues.
“The European Championship has guaranteed us great international respect,” Borriello told La Repubblica. “But let’s not hide: Italian football is not doing very well. Serie A doesn’t have all this appeal.”
Ciro Immobile has been criticised for his performances with Italy, but the Lazio striker has scored 127 times in Serie A with the Biancocelesti.
“Immobile doesn’t suit the type of game the Nazionale play, but he will beat [Francesco] Totti’s record in Serie A,” Borriello added.
“I would like to see more of [Giacomo] Raspadori, who is a little [Sergio] Aguero. Then there are [Gianluca] Scamacca and [Moise] Kean.”
Borriello then joked about the favourites in the Champions League, as he believes Paris Saint-Germain will win in 2021-22.
“You don’t compete with clubs that have a state as their owner, such as Qatar or the United Arab Emirates,” he said. “If you have two of the best goalkeepers in the world, Sergio Ramos, the best four attackers in the world, in the end you’ll win.”
The Borriello that was at Genoa is exactly what the national team needs right now. Limited at the very top, but he could’ve been a lot more effective in this Italy side than Immobile.
Yeah put all Romas players opinions about Imobille, first Cassano, then Boriello, lol
Immobile has been given more then enough chances now and his record is abysmal considering he is the main attacking outlet for this Italy team that keeps the ball in the opponents final third a good part of the game…Raspadori genuinely looks better playing upfront. Kean I dont think works either but Scamacca could be useful as target man…
I hope italy will sort out this issue before the world cup.
Chiesa iimmobile insigne are jewels for italy but they need a strong Vieri/Zlatan type of player in the box. And there are none out there right now Borriello would have been great aswell.
If things with Pietro Pellegri had not turned out how they did at Monaco with all his injuries and if he had lived up to the expectations he would have been that number 9 azzuri are missing upfront.
But thats another story.
What if Balotelli had a functional brain…………
The only “appeal” most players care about now is a fat paycheque. Do we really want these slimy, honourless mercenaries playing in Italy? Are we to have Calcio sell it’s soul as “muh EPL” has long since done, turning “English” football into a plastic flag-waving circus, unceremoniously shoved down the throat of every third world labourer with only one TV channel and little to no choice? Shall we invite a gang of international criminals to take over Serie A, just so we can shout down a bunch of pre-pubescent keyboard warriors and secure some “bragging rights” that no one with an ounce of maturity should care about? OR, should we perhaps work on solutions that are transparent and sustainable, like developing Italy’s substantial youth talent? Be careful who you try to appeal to. Sometimes the grass elsewhere is greener because it’s FAKE.