Marco Verratti

Euro Football Rumours

Player Profile

Position: Midfielder

Ligue 1 – 2017/2018

Date: 11.08.2018

Statistical Overview

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Player Information

Personal life

Marco Verratti (born 5 November 1992) is an Italian footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Italy national team. A creative, hard-working, and technically gifted playmaker, Verratti began his career with Italian club Pescara in 2008, where Verratti soon rose to prominence as one of the best young midfielders in Europe, helping the team to win the 2011–12 Serie B title, and winning the 2012 Bravo Award. His playing style drew comparisons with Andrea Pirlo, due to his passing ability, vision, and control, as well as his similar transition from the role of trequartista to that of a regista. In July 2012, Verratti transferred to French side Paris Saint-Germain, where he won four consecutive Ligue 1 titles from 2012 to 2016, among other domestic and individual trophies. At international level, he represented the Italy under-21 football team at the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, winning a runners-up medal, and being named to the all-star squad for the tournament. At senior level, Verratti made his Italy debut in 2012, and represented his country at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Early life

He was born in Pescara, and grew up in L’Aquila. As a child, Verratti supported Juventus and idolised Alessandro Del Piero, the team’s Italian international offensive playmaker. He’s talent was noticed at an early age, and Verratti was made offers to join the youth academies of Atalanta and Internazionale, but joined his local club Pescara for €5,000. After an impressive performance for Pescara’s under-16 team against A.C. Milan, the Lombardy club offered €300,000 to sign the midfielder, but he decided to remain at Pescara.

Club career

Pescara
The first youth team Verratti was affiliated with was that of Manoppello, a historic team of Pescara, that in 2001 merged with the newly born Manoppello Arabona. Verratti remained there until 2006 when he entered the youth of Pescara. He made his first team debut in the 2008–09 season at the age of 15 years and 9 months. In the 2009–10 season, Verratti appeared more regularly for Pescara, and since then became a key player in the first team. His performances generated national media coverage as a potential star of the future and Italian international. With Zdeněk Zeman as manager, he excelled as a deep-lying playmaker in a Pescara team which won the 2011–12 Serie B title playing “the best football in Italy”, earning promotion to Serie A the following season. After helping Pescara to promotion to Serie A, he received the 2012 Bravo Award for the best player under the age of 21 in Europe, and was reportedly wanted by Napoli, Roma and Juventus, as well as Carlo Ancelotti’s Paris Saint-Germain. At the 2012 AIC Gran Gala del Calcio, he was elected the best player of the 2011–12 Serie B season, along with former Pescara teammates Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne.

Paris Saint-Germain
On 18 July 2012, Verratti signed a five-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1. On 2 September 2012, he made his competitive debut for PSG in an away Ligue 1 match against Lille. Twelve days later, he assisted Javier Pastore’s opening goal in his first competitive appearance at the Parc des Princes, a 2–0 Ligue 1 defeat of Toulouse. On 18 September 2012, he made his UEFA Champions League debut in a 4–1 Group A defeat of Dynamo Kyiv. He ended his first season in the French capital by winning the 2012–13 Ligue 1 title. On 20 August 2013, Verratti signed a one-year extension to his contract with PSG, keeping him at the club until 2018. Verratti’s second season with PSG was even more successful than the first as the team retained its Ligue 1 title and won the Coupe de la Ligue and the 2013 Trophée des Champions. Verratti was named as the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year and included in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year for 2013–14. On 30 September 2014, Verratti scored his first competitive goal for PSG, a header in a 3–2 home win over Barcelona in the group stage of the Champions League. On 18 January 2015, he scored his first goal in Ligue 1, in a 4–2 home win over Evian.

International career

The uncapped Verratti was included into Cesare Prandelli’s preliminary 32-man Italy squad for UEFA Euro 2012, being one of only two Serie B players (the other being Torino’s Angelo Ogbonna) to be part of it. Verratti was subsequently cut from the squad on 28 May 2012. On 15 August 2012, he made his debut with the Italian senior team in a 2–1 friendly loss against England held in Bern. He subsequently made his first competitive appearance in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification, appearing as a second-half substitute for Emanuele Giaccherini in a 2–2 draw against Bulgaria on 7 September. On 6 February 2013, Verratti scored his first international goal in a friendly against the Netherlands in Amsterdam, a 91st-minute equalizer that made the final score 1–1. He took part with the Italy U-21 side at the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, where the Azzurrini finished as runner-up to Spain. His performances saw him included in UEFA’s all-star squad for the tournament. On 1 June 2014, Verratti was selected in Italy’s 23-man squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In Italy’s opening match of the tournament, he made his first competitive start for the Azzurri on the left side of a midfield diamond with Juventus players Andrea Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio and Roma vice-captain Daniele De Rossi in his team’s opening game of the tournament, a 2–1 victory over England in Manaus. However, Verratti did not appear in Italy’s second group match, a 1–0 defeat against Costa Rica; he started in Italy’s final group match against Uruguay, which also ended in a 1–0 loss, and as a result, Italy were eliminated in the first round of the tournament. On 6 May 2016, it was confirmed Verratti would miss Euro 2016 after a long lasting injury from a sports hernia which would require surgery on 16 May, sidelining him for two months. Upon recovering from his injury, he returned to the team under Italy’s new manager Gian Piero Ventura for an international friendly match against France in Bari on 1 September, making a substitute appearance in the Azzurri’s 3–1 loss.

Style of play

A quick, creative, agile, and technically gifted central midfield playmaker, with notable dribbling skills, quick reactions, and close ball control, he is known for his confidence on the ball and ability to retain possession in tight spaces when under pressure, due to his low centre of gravity and resulting balance. His excellent vision and range of passing enable him to create chances for teammates with accurate long passes, or control the tempo of his team’s play in midfield through precise, short exchanges. Due to his attributes and playing style, he has been compared to Italy legend Andrea Pirlo, in particular after making the same transition from trequartista to regista that the 2006 FIFA World Cup winner had also made earlier on in his career, although he has also been deployed in a new, more advanced role alongside Pirlo on occasion, as a false-attacking midfielder, in particular under Cesare Prandelli’s tenure with the Italy national team. Initially regarded as one of the most talented young players of his generation, Verratti quickly developed into one of the best playmaking midfielders in the world. In addition to his playmaking skills, he is also a hard-working, dynamic, and well-rounded midfielder, who is known for his aggression and defensive ability, in spite of his small physique and stature.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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