Hey, I'm a Newcastle United fan and we're strongly linked with buying this player (and allegedly lost out on him when he signed for you guys).
It's interesting reading the comments about him, he reminds me a lot of Ben Arfa - nobody ever doubted his ability on the ball, but he was kept on the bench for the first half of this season. He just looked out of place in the team due to his lack of tactical awareness, work rate, and the rare times he managed to get involved in the game, he'd just dribble until he lost the ball. Despite his bad reputation, he kept a great attitude, trained hard, and slowly adapted to the way the team plays. He got a chance in the first team, and has been a key player since, and is likely to be heading to the Euro's with France. I'm not sure how well know he is on the continent, but he's really something else, a joy to watch (
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iXigKaL93k).
Back to Elia - can anyone see the similarities? Talented, questionable attitude, teams seemingly frustrating by and/or giving up on him. Do you guys think, if he got was able to adapt tactically and got a run in the team, that he could consistently produce good performances? Or is he simply not good enough? I feel that eventually these players realise that they need to do something or else never achieve their potential, and Elia could be on the edge of doing just that. Maybe as such a competitive team, Juventus can not afford to give him the chances he needs?