Alessandro Florenzi’s Versatility Could Be Vital to Italy’s Euro 2016 Campaign

As one Italy international has discovered, versatility can be a blessing and a curse in sports.

A pitcher in baseball who can be effective as either a starter or reliever is often bounced between both roles, to the point where their growth can be stunted and they never truly realize their potential.  In basketball, a player who can play multiple roles on the floor was, until recently, vastly undervalued because coaches wouldn’t know what to do with them.

Footballers fall victim to their own versatility as well.  A case in point: AS Roma’s Alessandro Florenzi.

The 25-year-old can do absolutely everything—and it nearly ruined him.  Now, however, Florenzi has begun to settle into a regular role under Luciano Spalletti—and he’s beginning to realize his potential.

With a good performance at the UEFA European Championships next month, Florenzi could soon be regarded as one of the top players in the Italian pool.

Florenzi has been affiliated with professional teams since he was four years old.  He grew up in the youth programs of Atletico Acilia and Lodigiani, and he moved to Roma’s youth sector in 2002.  He rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a leading force on the team’s primavera team, and he captained the squad to the Campeonato Primavera championship in 2010-11.

When he made his debut in the first team on May 22, 2011, late in a 3-1 win over Sampdoria.  The fact that he replaced Francesco Totti was apropos.

Florenzi is the next in a long line of Roman boys to have played for the Giallorossi.  Totti was the first in 1992, and he was followed in 2001 by Daniele De Rossi.  A year later Alberto Aquilani made his debut with the team.

Aquilani eventually moved to Liverpool in 2009, but Totti and De Rossi have become fixtures of the team.  When Florenzi made his debut, he joined that illustrious line.  After a year on loan at Crotone—in which he scored 11 times in 35 games—he came back to Roma for good.  He quickly scored his first Serie A goal and started becoming a fixture in the team.

By the time the year was out, Florenzi had started 25 times, most as a central midfielder with a sprinkling of appearances as an attacking mid. But then the shuffling began.

He entered the 2013-14 season full of promise, but there was a problem—there was a huge logjam in Roma’s midfield.  New manager Rudi Garcia ran a 4-3-3, and Florenzi would have to compete with the likes of De Rossi, Kevin Strootman, Michael Bradley and Miralem Pjanic for playing time there.  The arrival or Radja Nainggolan only added to the names on the depth chart.

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