Calcio Debate: Who Is Juve's Player Of The Season?
To round off the current Serie A season, Carlo Garganese looks at the stand-out performers from the biggest clubs. The third in the series are Juventus…
Below is a list of five nominees in no particular order. I then cast my vote at the bottom, before leaving it you, the fans, to have your say.
1) Gianluigi Buffon: There is a common myth that the best goalkeepers are those who pull off the best saves. Wrong. The best are those whose positioning, communication, defensive organisation, and understanding of the play often means they are not forced into too many saves, and those that they do make look easy. This is what separates Buffon from Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas. The Juve number one has had another inspired season, and he was particularly impressive in the first half of the campaign. Who will forget that seemingly gravity-defying stop from Lazio’s Tommaso Rocchi before Christmas?
2) Giorgio Chiellini: It seems almost unthinkable that Juventus sporting director Alessio Secco actually attempted to sell Chiellini to Manchester City at the beginning of the season. The 23-year-old has been a colossus at the heart of the Bianconeri defence, forging an impressive partnership with Nicola Legrottaglie, who some would argue, also deserves to be nominated. Chiellini has summed up the never-say-die attitude that represents the Old Lady, always prepared to shed blood for the cause. He won the hearts-and-minds of all Juventini after he dished out some really rough treatment to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and indeed owned the Swede in both league games against Inter.
3) Mauro Camoranesi: The Argentine-born winger may have only played 20 Serie A matches this season due to injury, but he has been simply world class in almost every one of these. While many rightfully point to the impact that Momo Sissoko has made in Juve’s wonderful form in the last few months, it is Camoranesi’s return to full fitness that has been the biggest factor. In his last five games alone, the 31-year-old has provided nine assists, including all three in the 3-2 win over Milan. Camoranesi offers that much-needed creativity in midfield, and had he been fit all season, who knows Juve may have won the Scudetto. He has also scored five goals, at a ratio of one in four, and many of these have been decisive, including strikes against Inter home and away, as well as the equaliser in the comeback win at Udinese.
4) Alessandro Del Piero: 'The Golden Boy’ is in his best physical shape for years, and as a result he has produced possibly his best season since 1997/98. The 33-year-old struggled a little at the beginning of the campaign, but since November time he has been consistently rolling back the years. He is the second top-scorer in Serie A, with 18 goals, and over the past couple of months he has performed better than any forward in the peninsula. Italy national team boss Roberto Donadoni today revealed that he will probably take Del Piero to Euro 2008, and it will be well deserved.
5) David Trezeguet: While Del Piero will be in Austria and Switzerland, Serie A's joint top-scorer Trezeguet will be enjoying his family holiday. Quite how Raymond Domenech can be so childish as to ignore the prolific marksman is unbelievable. The 30-year-old’s telepathic partnership with ADP has netted him 19 goals in 33 games, with just one of these being a penalty. It is clear that Henry and Trezeguet cannot play in the same team together, but if I was forced to choose one out of the two, I would most certainly go for the latter. France’s loss will be Italy, as well as Juve’s gain.
My Vote: This is a really tricky one, and in truth you could make a good case for any of these five players winning Player of the Season. Had Camoranesi played just a few games more, I would have opted for him, while the fact that Juve have recently ruined their once superb defensive record allows me to cross off Buffon and Chiellini. In a straight fight between Del Piero and Trezeguet, I am going to go for the Golden Boy. He has proved everyone wrong this season, and I just hope that given the accusations that he never performs for Italy, he will do the same at Euro 2008.
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