Napoli market, a club steps up for Lorenzo Lucca
No doubt Antonio Conte’s Napoli expected more from Lorenzo Lucca: the center forward moved to Campania in the summer from Udinese on loan with conditional redemption but so far he has failed to make his mark. In Conte’s hierarchies he is behind Rasmus Højlund and with the return of Romelu Lukaku it will be even worse for Lucca, which is why the player is considering a transfer as early as in the winter soccer market session. In recent days there has been a lot of talk about Nottingham Forest but it seems there is also a possibility that he will stay in Italy.
Fabio Pisacane has asked Tommaso Giulini for an offensive graft to improve Cagliari’s offensive department and, among the profiles evaluated, there is also that of Lorenzo Lucca. The deal is not the easiest: Napoli would have to anticipate the center forward’s redemption from Udinese and then turn him over to the Sardinian club, which will most likely come forward with a dry loan offer until the end of the season. Aurelio De Laurentiis will evaluate the’operation together with his staff and the next few weeks will be decisive.
To Paolo Di Canio, who for Sky on Christmas Day will tell the behind-the-scenes story of one of the top matches of the most spectacular league in the world, the Premier League, in his “Di Canio Premier Special – Chelsea vs Arsenal – Inside a London derby,” Sportal.it asked if it is not the case for the former Udinese player to change air in January. The’England hypothesis, according to Di Canio, would not be the best option for the player: “No, right now no. If a player suffers in Italy with the physicality that Lucca has, where theoretically he should dominate, then in the Premier League he risks being eaten”.
“He is almost two meters tall, but he is too soft in attitude, too soft. In England, height is not enough: if you’re not mean, if you’re not edgy, you don’t play. Peter Crouch, for example, was not only tall, he was also annoying, nasty agonistically. Lucca, on the other hand, often accepts contact instead of imposing it” Di Canio told Sportal.it.
“An attacker of that type has to go him on the man, he has to strike before receiving the blow. That’s what Luca Toni or Christian Vieri used to do for example: they would take position, they would take space, they would make their weight felt. Lucca, on the other hand, often waits for the ball, tries to control it, and in the meantime comes the contact he does not expect. That is where he loses the duel”.
