Camarda at Lecce: Milan and his first six months

Allegri says that Francesco Camarda – together with Torriani, Bartesaghi and Comotto – is one of the four guys who “can be in the Milan squad in the future”. Obviously the Rossoneri club also thinks so, even if these days we are mainly looking at short-term prospects: there is a bad shoulder and we need to understand if it is necessary to operate on it and, at the same time, understand when, if necessary. Whether or not Francesco stays in Salento could depend on this timing. Milan and Lecce will certainly talk about it this weekend, taking advantage of the championship crossroads. But in the meantime, considering what will happen in the second part of the season, how did your first semester with the Giallorossi go?

weaning

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Wanting to trivialize with just one word: good. Maybe not great, but definitely not bad. The training experience is all there, it’s clear. The Rossoneri baby record holder – at Milanello, but also in Serie A, has lined up one record after another thanks to his age – was sold to Lecce in the summer on loan with right of redemption and counter-repayment, with additional bonuses linked to goals and appearances. An operation conceived and structured with the clear intention of putting Francesco in the best conditions to grow and gain experience not in the classic mid-range Serie B club, but in a Serie A club historically inclined to weaning and valorising young talents. Vucinic and Bojinov are there to witness it. Those bonuses were clearly placed to “entice” Lecce more in the use of Francesco, but in Salento the promising boys play. Camarda’s numbers up to this point show 19 appearances – 17 in the league (7 as a starter) and 2 in the Italian Cup, for a total of 742′ – with one goal on the scoresheet: the one against Bologna, as precious as the equalizing goal scored in the 94th minute can be.

trust

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Could he have played more? Maybe, but his playing time remains important in Serie A for a 17-year-old (he will be of age in March). Not only that: Francesco landed in Salento with the stigmata of the predestined and in this sense he was not only welcomed very well by the square and the locker room, but also managed by offering him those opportunities that Milan certainly appreciated with a view to his growth: among the seven championship matches as a starter, Camarda faced Milan, Naples, Lazio, Juve and Roma. In other words, he almost always started from the beginning when there was a high-level opponent in front of him. Stulic gets the small ones, he gets the big ones. A clear sign of trust, the same one he had from his teammates and coach when Francesco showed up on the spot for the penalty against Napoli. It went badly – blocked by the giant Milinkovic-Savic -, with lots of tears on the bench. But you also grow like this and it’s not a failed penalty that ruins his Salento semester.

modern

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Camarda has been pampered – not spoiled: they are two different things – since his arrival (Corvino even included him in the famous mural of the attackers that stands out on his home), first taken by the arm of Captain Baschirotto and then becoming a friend of Berisha. In addition to appreciating Di Francesco’s professionalism, he considers him a tactically intelligent player, in short, a center forward with modern movements. If anything, he too found himself entangled in Lecce’s overall scoring difficulties. Who plays well – by the way: after Fabregas Allegri finds another fellow player – but scores little: 13 goals mean the worst attack of the tournament, partly due to the inaccuracy of the strikers and partly due to lack of clarity in the last pass. Francesco on Sunday evening would have liked to find Milan as an opponent for the third time this season, but he will be forced to observe from the outside and then, by the end of the month, it will be necessary to understand whether to bring him back to Milanello early. This certainly wasn’t the scenario Camarda had imagined growing up.