Giacomo Raspadori impressed with his performance from centre-forward during Italy’s 2-1 win over Ukraine on Tuesday evening, but the 23-year-old may have to settle for a different role at club level given that opportunities to start up front will be few and far between.
During the international break, Raspadori was reunited with former Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti, who took over as CT from Roberto Mancini in August. The new national team coach deployed Raspadori from a central position in his second game in charge, flanked by Aston Villa loanee Nicolo Zaniolo and Lazio’s Mattia Zaccagni.
While Inter’s Davide Frattesi stole the headlines with his two goals on the night, Raspadori also received plaudits from the pundits and press in Italy alike.
Speaking after the Ukraine game, Raspadori also admitted that he has a different way of interpreting the role of a centre-forward, but also confessed: “this is where I feel most at ease.”
However, whilst having an attacker return from the international break off the back of an impressive performance is usually considered a good thing, for Napoli and coach Rudi Garcia, the situation could instead be a bit of a headache.
That is because Raspadori is unlikely to be given a chance to start up front for the Partenopei given the presence of last season’s Capocannoniere Victor Osimhen, whose goalscoring prowess shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
The Nigerian has in fact started the season with three goals from three league games and has recently added a brace against Sao Tome to his international tally.
Raspadori, meanwhile, has started two of Napoli’s three games in Serie A so far this season, starting from the left wing in the absence of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on both of those occasions. In the most recent clash against Lazio, Raspadori was brought on to play right-wing as a substitute for Matteo Politano.
Given the injury to Politano that led to his withdrawal form the Italy squad, there is a chance that Raspadori starts Napoli’s upcoming game against Napoli from the right-wing, however, new signing Jesper Lindstrom is also in contention.
Moving forwards though, La Gazzetta dello Sport suggests that Garcia could get the best out of Raspadori from a slightly deeper position.
The pink paper writes that Garcia could deploy Raspadori as the most-advanced player in a midfield three, allowing him to drift wide and get involved in the attacking phases. La Gazzetta also praises Raspadori’s hard work and discipline off the ball as well.