There is no doubt every team in the world gets to a crucial stage where transitioning new life into the team is so vital, and they will be faced with the reality of transition into building a new golden generation which more often than not doesn’t usually come with a soft landing in terms of developing future stars and a formidable team.
In football, the reality of constant competition forces teams to operate dynamically when they have great players in every position which allows them to dictate possessions, and when they don’t have possession they easily fight to get back and transit from defense to attack.
The Italy national team is currently experiencing a transitional period with the rise of young prospects from well-known clubs, since winning the World Cup back in 2006 it has been a turbulent time on the international scenes for the Italian national team. The Mundial in South Africa and Brazil are two tournament Italians will want to forget in a hurry as their performance was nothing to write home about, and not to forget their failure in qualifying for Russia 2018 which was the end of an era for some of their players like Pirlo et al.
No doubt some of this prospect still needs the first-team experience with their respective clubs’ side before they can get to play for the national team. Meanwhile, some of them are already key players for their respective club while some still finding in hard to stick their feet on the ground, however, Sandro Tonali has become a key player with Brescia in Seria A.
If Italy match against Armenia and Bosnia & Herzegovina were anything to go by, then we can say the transition patch every team goes through is gradually working out fine for the Azzurri, as most of the players that played those matches are under 24 years which shows a very bright future for the national team when the players fully matured into great players.
READ ALSO: Tiki Taka: The Evolution Of Soccer’s Philosophical Tactics
One of the players who are currently doing well in the Seria A and the national team of Italy is Tonali, the young midfielder is an integral member for the newly-promoted side Brescia and has caught the eyes of many fans with his talent and performance when he played for the Italy U19 at the European Championship, and since then the hype about him been the new Pirlo hasn’t gone away.
At age 17, Tonali made his professional debut for Brescia Calcio coming on as a substitute against Avellino a match they went on to lose, from that time on Tonali did had over 19 match appearances in the league for Brescia in his first season as a professional player, scored two goals and provided two assists during the 2017-18 season in the Italian second-tier league Seria B.
The following season, Tonali broke into the team’s first eleven and played an important role in Brescia triumph of winning the Seria B title which got them the promotion to the topflight Seria A, and in 2019 he made his debut in the Seria A at age 19 against Cagliari, and the following week he assisted his compatriot Mario Balotelli to score a goal against Napoli.
No doubt there is still many big things the world should expect in the coming years from the young Brescia midfielder at 19, not because of anything but because of the glimpse of brilliance, he showed at the U19 European Championship and the hype that surrounds his future in becoming the next Pirlo for the Italian national team in terms of their style of play.
Tonali is one young midfielder that can actually play in a diamond formation just like he did under Eugenio Corini in the Seria B, a role which the man is been compared with played in painstakingly, dictate play from the middle of the pack using his passing ability, and critically make sure his passes reaches up the pitch to bring the goals.
One of the standout attributes of Tonali is how intelligent he is in terms of using his-Pirlo like positioning ability to benefit the team, no wonder why he’s been touted to be the next Pirlo, the young midfielder still need a lot of improvement before he could get to the level of former Juventus midfield maestro.
READ ALSO: 5 Of The Funniest Footballers Of All Time
Although he’s yet to fully step into that height Pirlo attainted for the Azzurri before he hung his boots, as that position currently belongs to Chelsea’s midfielder Jorginho who is also a complete passer and has the ability to create good passes for the Italian team, but then if he continues to brilliantly play well in that position for his club, he would definitely be moved away from the central position role he plays now and start from the deep line position if Jorginho isn’t available.
Absolutely spectacular by Sandro Tonali.pic.twitter.com/D2tvHdWJE8
— Scouted Football (@ScoutedFtbl) October 27, 2019
The Italian national team is one of the European team that has a proud footballing heritage, but a deep drop of form in some of their players wasn’t expected as their 2006 triumph at the World Cup began a wrap up of an era and a great generation to some of their players, and a lack of suitable replacements and inability to let go of their past in trying to bring back their old guard has been their main problem.
But in trying to fix the problem, comes a young midfielder in Tonali who the Italian is waiting on to become the next Pirlo, as such even fans who don’t watch the Seria A often should be aware of him through the U19 competition, transfer rumors about him moving to some of the big clubs in Europe and also donning the blue jersey of Italy.
However, when asked by the Gazzetta Dello Sport if he believed Tonali was the heir to his own midfield throne, Pirlo wasn’t so sure.
“No,” he said. “He is very good but he is different from me on the pitch.
“He has everything to be a champion but he is more a midfielder for a two-man midfield. He could already play for a great team; he is the best in this league.”
Nevertheless, the future of Italy is bright as Tonali rise has been top-notch with his club and he has an ample time to develop, but then he needs to start proving himself as the next big thing for the Italian team else he would be robbed off his opportunity to shine for his team because there are a lot of young players waiting to snatch up any given opportunity.
Though a new era is here for Roberto Mancini and his team, as he has a lot of talent at his disposal which has been evident in their qualification for the Euro 2020, which of course won’t come to town again until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, it’s would be interesting to see how Tonali would live up to that tag ‘New Pirlo‘, it’s left to be seen though, as he definitely has a legacy to build on and achieve success just like the former Juventus man.
