The blue is Inter’s big target for the right wing. With Cagliari he exploded in Italy, but if he ends up with the Nerazzurri he will be called to the European leap in quality
Marco Palestra is ready to shoulder a heavy backpack, put on crampons and set off towards the summit with two rackets this big. The mountain is high and he has never climbed it so far: it is called Europa. And he will play it anyway. If he were to go to Inter he would compete with the Champions League, but it’s not just the Nerazzurri who are interested in him. However, the great farewell from Dumfries – headed towards Real Madrid, ready to pay the 20 million clause – will push the Nerazzurri top brass to go beyond the 40 million plus five bonuses already offered to Atalanta.
gym numbers
—
Introduction: Marco, 21 years old, was in his first year as a starter in Serie A. He finished with one goal and four assists in 37 appearances. Pisacane described him as “a Playstation player”, one of those with “99 acceleration and a disarming stride”, capable of splitting the game and the defenses. Palestra played as a winger in a five-man midfield and also as a winger in a disguised 4-3-3, becoming the defender with the most successful dribbles in the whole of Serie A (71, only Yildiz better than him considering the other roles). He made more one-on-ones than Paz, Conceicao and so on. And again: 7 big chances created in total and an average of two touches in the opponent’s offensive area per game. Before landing in Cagliari he had played 15 games with the Goddess of the greats.
the comparison
—
But how does Palestra compare to the other top performers who have stood out in Europa this year? If we take the best right-backs in terms of performance such as Hakimi of PSG, Timber of Arsenal, Matheus Nunes of Manchester City – reinvented as a defender by Guardiola – or Koundé of Barcelona, the comparison is unequal on several levels, if not almost all. Experience, recovered balls, touches of the ball in the offensive area, goals scored, playing time and so on. Hakimi won his second Champions League as a protagonist, Palestra has only been in Serie A for one year. What matters is to isolate his data and compare it with Serie A. Wesley, for example, a Roma winger called up by Brazil for the World Cup, has similar numbers to the Italian: five goals, just one assist, 10 big chances created. Chivu, if the deal goes through, will have to work on him making him a… European winger. One like Dumfries, capable of scoring 27 goals in five seasons and making the difference especially in the Champions League. The brace against Barcelona is still alive.