Juve linked with Rudnevs in January - Tuttosport
and why is that so funny? Anyone bother to see some of his previous games and goals, or read about his career so far? Well, I did, and I liked what I saw.
This guy is a must buy, no doubt about it. History tells us a lot of similar stories, how an unknown player from an unknown club shines against some european grand, immediately he is brought in the club, and in the following years he leaves his mark. A comparison with Zibi Boniek I read somewhere yesterday, a decent example I think from the early 80s and Juve. As a bulgarian I can make a comparison with Hristo Stoichkov, his CSKA (Sofia) and his goals against Barcelona, who later got him and... rest is history. This summer, Palermo played with Maribor to reach Europa League group stage, they liked two unknown guys and bought them, and few months later Ilicic and Bacinovic are two of the hottest youngsters in Serie A...
Something I want to underline -
In no way I`m telling that Rudnevs is as good as Boniek and Stoichkov and etc, I find similarities only in the way the football world finds out about their existence. And yes, after last night Rudnevs is a known name in Europe, hell, he scored 4 goals against Juve in 2 games and eliminated the most important club in Italy in European competition, this is quite an accomplishment and shouldnt be left unnoticed. Apart from the 'history part', the kid has some qualities, pace, a decent shot (we saw that in Torino), can play well with his head (saw that in Poznan), his age is good, his price is good... I just dont see how this kid is a worse player than 23mln Amauri and 12mln Iaquinta, the only thing I see is that the last two have reached their maximum years before and are only going down, the first one just started his career and has a lot of potential to develop.
PS.: In case someone asks, he is from Latvia and Latvia are in EU.