Monday 12 May 2014

Domenico Beradi


Fact File: 
Age: 19
Nation: Italy
Current Club: Sassuolo (64 apps, 27 goals)
Height: 6ft 1

    It's been an outstanding break-though season for Domenico Berardi in the Serie A this year. The forward on loan from Juventus has been one of the surprise stars in the league and has caught the eye of many clubs including English giants Manchester United.

Who is Domenico Berardi?
Domenico started his career at his local club Cosenza. He was at the academy for 3 years before moving on. At the beginning of the 2012/13 season he signed for Serie B team Sassuolo and made a huge impact, notching up 11 goals as he helped his side win the league and gained promotion to the Serie A. After seeing his impressive performances in the league, 30 times Serie A winners Juventus agreed a deal to sign the youngster and loan him back to Sassuolo for the 2013/14 season. It has been a terrific season for him, scoring 16 goals despite the teams struggles. The young forward also made history this year becoming the first ever player to score four goals in a single game against AC Milan.

Playing Style:
With his height, pace and equal ability in both feet, he has attributes to be a solid centre forward. He has been used in a few different systems this season but he has been mostly used on the right hand side being encouraged to cut onto his strong left foot. Luciano Carlino the assistant youth coach at Sassuolo spoke to tuttosport and described Berardi as a player who ''has a left foot capable of lethality from any position, his light touch and ability to cut in with pace, he reminds me of Arjen Robben''. Despite being at such a young stage of his career, Domenic doesn't have many weaknesses in his game, but an area of his game where he may look to improve on is his discipline. He has struggled with this and has been awarded with ten yellows and a red card after just 48 seconds on the pitch for throwing an elbow at Parma opponent Cristian Molinaro. 

Why you should follow him:
Domenico is a very exciting young player to watch, (He has already scored 3 hat-tricks this season). He is a player who has adapted to life in the serie A very comfortably and with him heading back to the 2013/14 league champions Juventus next season, we should be seeing him competing for titles and playing amongst Europe's elite in the Champions League next season.

Watch Berardi's stunning performance vs AC Milan 


Thursday 8 May 2014

Josip Drmic


                                                  


 Fact File:

Age: 21
Nation: Switzerland
Current Club: Nurnburg (29 apps, 16 goals)
Height: 6ft

The 21 year Swiss forward has burst onto the European scene this season after his terrific start to life at FC Nurnburg. He has been one of the most talked about youngsters in the top flight divisions and has already caught the eye of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. Although there are rumours that he is about join fellow Bundesliga Club Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Who is Josip Drmic?
Josip begin his career at FC Zurich II ( The B team of FC Zurich). In his first two season's he scored a staggering 26 goals in 26 appearances and was immediately promoted to the first team. The 2012/13 campaign was his best at the club where he ended the season with 19 goals in 39 matches. This caught the eye of many clubs and he was snapped up by FC Nurnburg on a four year deal and has made a superb start to his career at the top flight club.

Playing Style:
Josip has been predominately played as a centre forward but can also be played on the right-wing. With him being quite a pacey forward, he is always looking to break the line of defence and is very confident in finishing with either foot. His sublime ball control and great composure and in front of goal means he is very effective in playing as a lone centre forward. Despite his height a weakness of his game is his ariel ability. He hasn't scored many headed goals and has won just 31% of his ariel challenges.

Why you should you follow him:
After his interest from top clubs such as Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen, it's clear that Drmic could be heading to an elite club soon and we may even see him in the champions league. Even more so due to a clause in his contract. Despite his impressive amount of goals in the league this season (only Robert Lewandowski and Mario Mandzukic has scored more this season) his club still find themselves in a relegation battle and Josip can be bought for a bargain £4.5 million if the club does go down. He has also represented his country across all levels and is currently playing for the National squad, with Switzerland qualified for the world cup we may also see him playing amongst the worlds best in Brazil this summer.

Have a look at Drmic's goals on the video below