Sassuolo teenager Luca D’Andrea provided his first Serie A assist this evening against Atalanta and reveals how he is keeping his focus. ‘I’ve done nothing yet, tomorrow I start from scratch.’
The talent only celebrated his 18th birthday last month, but already has two Serie A starts under his belt and today provided his first assist, floating in the ball for a Giorgos Kyriakopoulos volley.
He became the youngest player, aged 18 years and 39 days, to provide a Serie A assist since Pedro Pereira for Sampdoria in October 2015, aged 17 years and 255 days against Inter.
Atalanta turned it around to win 2-1, but that goal had given Sassuolo the lead in Bergamo.
“I come from an area that is not good, so I always had the hunger from my first day. I thank my father, first of all, as he was always close to me with my whole family in good and bad times,” D’Andrea told Sky Sport Italia.
“My father was a player too, but he didn’t do anything in his career because of my mother. My brother was born when he was 16 and he had to focus on his family.”
Born on the outskirts of Naples, he was picked up by the SPAL youth academy in 2020 and moved to Sassuolo in January 2022.
“Even if I never got to see him live, Diego Maradona was my hero. But the players who inspire me now are Domenico Berardi, who I watch carefully in training, and also Giacomo Raspadori when he was here.
“I went into pre-season training in August and thank God I did well. I thank the club and coach for this opportunity, but I’ve done nothing yet. There’s a long road ahead, keep pushing, because you see people disappear.
“I won’t celebrate tonight, I’ll go home and rest, because I’ve achieved nothing. From tomorrow, we start from scratch.”
This was his second Serie A appearance and start, the other coming in a 1-0 win away to Torino on September 17. Did he call his parents to warn them before that surprise debut.
“I didn’t tell anyone anything, as I was fully concentrated. I didn’t tell my father or the rest of my family either, as this was too important. I had an inkling, but I wasn’t sure, as we had the training session in the morning and the coach didn’t give anything away.
“He saw I was ready and eager to give my all. I think I played my part. The coach tells me every day in training that I need to take men on and put the cross in. I had a look, saw Kyriakopoulos at the back post and sent it to him.”
Serie A needs more of these players.
Build with players like this and Italy national and club will rise to the top like I. The 80/90’s