Napoli market, Lorenzo Lucca goes to Nottingham Forest: the figures
Lorenzo Lucca’s adventure at Napoli is already over. Signed by the Campania club as an alternative to Romelu Lukaku, after the Belgian’s serious injury the Piedmontese player had to take note of the acquisition of Rasmus Højlund, with the former Atalanta Dane immediately bypassing him in Antonio Conte’s hierarchies. Between Serie A, Champions League, Coppa Italia and the Italian Super Cup, the 2000-born striker has collected a total of 23 appearances of which only six as a starter, scoring just two goals.
Lucca ended up in the sights of many clubs in this winter market window, including Pisa and Cagliari in Serie A, but in the end the former Udinese decided to move to Nottingham Forest, a Premier League club that already showed strong interest in him last March. English scouts had been following him for some time, attracted by his atypical but steadily growing physical profile: 2 meters and 1 centimeter in height, imposing presence, good sense of position, and obvious progress in playing as a back and working for the team.
The Neapolitan and English clubs have agreed on Lucca’s transfer on the basis of an onerous loan set at two million euros with a right of redemption at 35. The Piedmontese center forward is expected in England as early as today for medical examinations and contract signing. In England, where matches are often won in aerial duels and hand-to-hand combat, Lucca is seen as a suitable striker. Not of the same opinion is Paolo Di Canio, a longtime Premier League star who recently spoke to the microphones of Sportal.it.
“If a player suffers in Italy with the physicality that Lucca has, where theoretically he should dominate, then in the Premier League he runs the risk of being eaten – he stressed -He is almost two meters tall, but he is too soft in attitude, too soft. In England, height is not enough: if you are not mean, if you are 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 accepted contact instead of imposing it. Even a smaller defender, if he is aggressive, puts him in trouble. The problem is not physical, it is character” concluded the’former footballer.
