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Zac Lee Rigg: Marco Borriello could parlay Juventus move into a spot on Italy's Euro 2012 roster
Borriello's stats this season mirror his Italy record: 7 games, 0 goals. A loan to Juventus could reignite the striker's career.
Jan 6, 2012 6:07:00 AM
By Zac Lee Rigg
When Swoonworthy.net dubs you the most handsome man in the world and you've appeared on Italian TV to sing and dance 'YMCA' in a goofy cowboy outfit, you might think you've arrived.
However, despite the pompous haircuts and plenty of allegations otherwise earlier in his career, Marco Borriello isn't a model or celebrity. He's a soccer player who, at 29, still hasn't quite panned out.
The flashes and patchwork resume were enough to convince Juventus to bring Borriello in on loan from AS Roma, with the option to make the move permanent in the summer for 8 million euros.
Highlights of his portfolio (no doubt prepared in dutiful double-space by an intern at his agent's office) include 19 goals for Genoa in the 2007-08 season, 14 goals in 29 Serie A appearances as the glue holding Leonardo's "4-2-crazy" formation together at AC Milan and a wicked left-footed volley.
A scouting report handed to Antonio Conte surely also mentioned a dearth of pace and mobility, frequent injuries, a drug ban in 2007 and a lack of support from current Roma coach Luis Enrique. Borriello hasn't scored yet in seven appearances (two starts) for Roma this season, though he has added two assists.
None of that, nor that fact that Milan and Roma have fairly eagerly parted with the Italian striker in the past 18 months, fazed Conte. "What did we see in Borriello that they didn't see in him at AC Milan?” Conte mused to Tuttosport. “Hopefully the same things we saw in [Andrea] Pirlo.”
That is to say: a talented piece discarded prematurely because it didn't fit the tactical system. Since arriving in Turin on a free transfer, Pirlo has become the most indispensable part of Conte's new Juve, with no one else in the lineup capable of satisfactorily organizing and playmaking from deep if he's out.
Borriello, similarly, fits a specific tactical role. He operates as a targetman – nothing else.
Enrique preferred more fluid options, like Pablo Osvaldo. (Note: Had Osvaldo's worrying right thigh injury happened a day earlier, Roma may have reconsidered releasing Borriello, who scored 17 goals in all competitions during his first season in Rome.) But Borriello's conduit abilities will compliment Conte's approach.
The toupe-topped coach has admitted that his claims of wanting to instill a 4-2-4 at Juve were mostly aimed at exciting fan support, and he's since shifted to a progressive 4-3-3 with one winger (usually Simone Pepe), and a forward (Borriello's old teammate Mirko Vucinic) cutting inside to support the main striker (Alessandro Matri).
Borriello would serve as backup for Matri or as an option to return to the 4-4-2 of earlier in the season. Strikers Amauri, Luca Toni and Vincenzo Iaquinta are all expected to leave.
Of course, backup minutes probably won't appease Borriello. With the long-term injuries to Giuseppe Rossi and Antonio Cassano, the roster spots for forwards on Italy's Euro 2012 squad are wide open. A touch of form and any one of Giampaolo Pazzini, Alberto Gilardino, Mario Balotelli, Antonio Di Natale, Osvaldo, Matri or Borriello could find himself starting this summer.
Despite his age, Borriello only has seven international caps and no goals. The lack of club consistency has told.
After coming through the Milan youth ranks, Borriello spent time on loan at Triestina, Treviso (twice), Empoli, Reggina and Sampdoria.
In January 2007 he was suspended nearly three months for the presence of banned corticosteroids in his urine sample. Borriello blamed the test results on a cream he was using to treat an STD acquired from his then-girlfriend, Argentine model Belen Rodriguez.
Following a successful co-ownership deal at Genoa, Borriello's return season with Milan was cut down by injury, limiting him to just six starts in 2008-09. Niggling and major injuries have been persistent. ("Every time I try to slow down the muscle hurts," Borriello complained during a 5-3 loss to Inter last season. Then-coach Claudio Ranieri: "Don't slow down then.")
Should Borriello force his way onto the Euro roster, he wouldn't be the first journeyman Azzurri striker. Christian Vieri played in Turin, Rome and Milan as well, and many frequent international stars have featured for three or more of Serie A's major clubs.
Mercurial Italian talent tends to drift more than in other major leagues, undoubtedly because coaches also collect 'previous employment' listings on resumes at an alarming rate. The longest current continuous tenure in Serie A belongs to Walter Mazzarri, who has been at Napoli since October 2009. Fourteen of the league's 20 head coaches have had their current gigs for less than a year.
That makes immediate success paramount, which is why Juventus will supplement the Borriello hire with Martin Caceres and one midfielder (La Gazzetta dello Sport links Roma's David Pizarro, Porto's Fredy Guarin and Sampdoria's Angelo Palombo) this January.
The Old Lady resumes league play tied for top spot at the halfway mark, though two successive seventh-placed finishes have players understandably reticent to discuss a potential Scudetto charge. "If I said that 'S' word, I'd be crazy," Gianluigi Buffon told Tuttosport earlier in the season.
But the editors of Swoonworthy.net would probably squeal in delight should they find a picture of Borriello holding the trophy above his chiseled -- preferably shirtless -- torso come May.
Follow ZAC LEE RIGG on
or shoot him an email.
However, despite the pompous haircuts and plenty of allegations otherwise earlier in his career, Marco Borriello isn't a model or celebrity. He's a soccer player who, at 29, still hasn't quite panned out.
The flashes and patchwork resume were enough to convince Juventus to bring Borriello in on loan from AS Roma, with the option to make the move permanent in the summer for 8 million euros.
Highlights of his portfolio (no doubt prepared in dutiful double-space by an intern at his agent's office) include 19 goals for Genoa in the 2007-08 season, 14 goals in 29 Serie A appearances as the glue holding Leonardo's "4-2-crazy" formation together at AC Milan and a wicked left-footed volley.
A scouting report handed to Antonio Conte surely also mentioned a dearth of pace and mobility, frequent injuries, a drug ban in 2007 and a lack of support from current Roma coach Luis Enrique. Borriello hasn't scored yet in seven appearances (two starts) for Roma this season, though he has added two assists.
None of that, nor that fact that Milan and Roma have fairly eagerly parted with the Italian striker in the past 18 months, fazed Conte. "What did we see in Borriello that they didn't see in him at AC Milan?” Conte mused to Tuttosport. “Hopefully the same things we saw in [Andrea] Pirlo.”
That is to say: a talented piece discarded prematurely because it didn't fit the tactical system. Since arriving in Turin on a free transfer, Pirlo has become the most indispensable part of Conte's new Juve, with no one else in the lineup capable of satisfactorily organizing and playmaking from deep if he's out.
Borriello, similarly, fits a specific tactical role. He operates as a targetman – nothing else.
Enrique preferred more fluid options, like Pablo Osvaldo. (Note: Had Osvaldo's worrying right thigh injury happened a day earlier, Roma may have reconsidered releasing Borriello, who scored 17 goals in all competitions during his first season in Rome.) But Borriello's conduit abilities will compliment Conte's approach.
The toupe-topped coach has admitted that his claims of wanting to instill a 4-2-4 at Juve were mostly aimed at exciting fan support, and he's since shifted to a progressive 4-3-3 with one winger (usually Simone Pepe), and a forward (Borriello's old teammate Mirko Vucinic) cutting inside to support the main striker (Alessandro Matri).
Borriello would serve as backup for Matri or as an option to return to the 4-4-2 of earlier in the season. Strikers Amauri, Luca Toni and Vincenzo Iaquinta are all expected to leave.
Of course, backup minutes probably won't appease Borriello. With the long-term injuries to Giuseppe Rossi and Antonio Cassano, the roster spots for forwards on Italy's Euro 2012 squad are wide open. A touch of form and any one of Giampaolo Pazzini, Alberto Gilardino, Mario Balotelli, Antonio Di Natale, Osvaldo, Matri or Borriello could find himself starting this summer.
Despite his age, Borriello only has seven international caps and no goals. The lack of club consistency has told.
After coming through the Milan youth ranks, Borriello spent time on loan at Triestina, Treviso (twice), Empoli, Reggina and Sampdoria.
In January 2007 he was suspended nearly three months for the presence of banned corticosteroids in his urine sample. Borriello blamed the test results on a cream he was using to treat an STD acquired from his then-girlfriend, Argentine model Belen Rodriguez.
Following a successful co-ownership deal at Genoa, Borriello's return season with Milan was cut down by injury, limiting him to just six starts in 2008-09. Niggling and major injuries have been persistent. ("Every time I try to slow down the muscle hurts," Borriello complained during a 5-3 loss to Inter last season. Then-coach Claudio Ranieri: "Don't slow down then.")
Should Borriello force his way onto the Euro roster, he wouldn't be the first journeyman Azzurri striker. Christian Vieri played in Turin, Rome and Milan as well, and many frequent international stars have featured for three or more of Serie A's major clubs.
Mercurial Italian talent tends to drift more than in other major leagues, undoubtedly because coaches also collect 'previous employment' listings on resumes at an alarming rate. The longest current continuous tenure in Serie A belongs to Walter Mazzarri, who has been at Napoli since October 2009. Fourteen of the league's 20 head coaches have had their current gigs for less than a year.
That makes immediate success paramount, which is why Juventus will supplement the Borriello hire with Martin Caceres and one midfielder (La Gazzetta dello Sport links Roma's David Pizarro, Porto's Fredy Guarin and Sampdoria's Angelo Palombo) this January.
The Old Lady resumes league play tied for top spot at the halfway mark, though two successive seventh-placed finishes have players understandably reticent to discuss a potential Scudetto charge. "If I said that 'S' word, I'd be crazy," Gianluigi Buffon told Tuttosport earlier in the season.
But the editors of Swoonworthy.net would probably squeal in delight should they find a picture of Borriello holding the trophy above his chiseled -- preferably shirtless -- torso come May.
Follow ZAC LEE RIGG on
or shoot him an email.
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