The curious case of Alessio Cerci: from Fiorentina misfit to Manchester City transfer target
Getting to the pasta pot after your greedy uncle has tucked into the seafood special can be a soul-destroying experience. You know there might be a few tasty treats remaining but it takes a lot of time and effort to sift through the spaghetti to find them. Watching Alessio Cerci can often feel like a similar experience.
The boy has talent, no doubt about that. Every so often he peeps out from beneath his floppy fringe and embarks on a run which leaves defenders trailing in his wake. And at the end of last season he even acquired an eye for goal. The trouble was, it was too little, too late for a lot of Fiorentina fans.
For a variety of reasons, the Viola faithful have never really taken to the 23-year-old winger. Some have blamed his Roma upbringing - the two clubs share a mutual disrespect - but that argument is surely flawed. If he had delivered better displays in his first outings for the club, his Giallorosso past would almost certainly have been forgiven. Heck, even signings from bitter rivals Juventus can gain acceptance these days.
It has more been a question of his apparent attitude. When the club was struggling in the early part of the season, he was often posted missing. He seemed to turn 50-50 tackles about 90-10 in favour of the opposition. And his shooting was often so errant that the boys in the upper reaches of the Curva Fiesole started sporting goalkeeper’s gloves.
That lacklustre approach got the crowd on his back and recent comments that he would not celebrate a goal beneath his home support only got under their skin even further. Any chance of reconciliation vanished more quickly than Sinisa Mihajlovic’s designer shades at a Fiorentina press conference.
That is why large slices of the Florentine faithful are so excited by the prospect of shipping him out to Manchester City. Many of them already feel disappointed Inter did not take their coach earlier this summer. The prospect of getting significant money - about £6m - for a player they never took to their hearts is mouthwatering. It would also represent a profit of more than £2m on the sum they paid for him.
The story of football, of course, is strewn with stories of players who were hopeless for one club but became heroes at another and vice-versa. Furthermore, Mario Balotelli has already become a cult hero at Eastlands, so why shouldn’t Cerci? Nonetheless, it remains a puzzling pick by Roberto Mancini if it comes to fruition.
The Roman wideman has pace enough to trouble Premiership defences and the trickery to skip past plenty of players too. What is more in doubt is his appetite for what is clearly a more physical league. When the going got tough at Fiorentina, Cerci had long since disappeared behind the Fiesole hills.
Yet a move might well be the best outcome for both player and club. New surroundings, new supporters and a new challenge could yet allow the matchwinner seen towards the end of last season to discover a greater deal of consistency. Those kind of performances on a regular basis would make him a quality acquisition.
The buyer must beware, however. Few footballers cut a more disconsolate figure when things are not going their way than Cerci. He is just about the ultimate confidence player, needing everything to fall right in order to deliver his top performances. Otherwise, Manchester City fans might come to a similar conclusion to many of their counterparts in Tuscany. There is definitely something there, but they just can’t be bothered to keep looking for it any more.
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