Player Focus: Baselli Beginning to Fulfil 'Eternal Promise' at Torino
“I found it hard to eat,” Daniele Baselli recalls. “I was so anxious.” On deadline day last January his stomach turned over as much as his mind. His future was in the hands of others. Everyone anticipated that Milan would come in late for him. After all, it seemed to make perfect sense.
Owner Silvio Berlusconi wished to restore an Italian identity to the team. Baselli’s Atalanta teammate Giacomo Bonaventura had joined in the summer and Alessio Cerci, Mattia Destro, Luca Antonelli and others had already arrived that winter.
Milan also desperately needed a player capable of getting their passing game going. Captain Riccardo Montolivo, another alumnus of the Zingonia academy at Atalanta, was out injured again. He was undergoing an operation but even with him fit, another technician on the ball would not have gone amiss at San Siro. Ever since Andrea Pirlo had left, Milan’s midfield has been characterised by too many carpenters and not enough architects.
Baselli had the profile they were looking for. In the end, however, it didn’t happen. “I was calm throughout,” he said, “even when the deal went up in smoke.” Many expected it to catch fire again at the end of last season. “We have a right of first refusal,” chief executive Adriano Galliani revealed and you would have thought Milan would have taken it after Baselli nodded a header beyond Christian Abbiatti on the final day of the campaign as a reminder of his talent. In the meantime Atalanta patiently turned down the advances of Fiorentina, Villarreal and Sassuolo while they waited for Milan to make their move. But upon them paying €20m for Andrea Bertolacci, it became clear that their interest had definitively ended.
Hearing about this, maybe from his old friend Berlusconi, Torino owner Urbano Cairo acted swiftly to persuade Baselli to come and ride the Toro. He was theirs for as little as €4.5m. “Milan’s interest was nice,” Baselli told La Gazzetta dello Sport, “but if they had really wanted me they would have signed me. Torino’s offer was a genuine one. Cairo, the coach Giampiero Ventura and director of sport Gianluca Petrachi wanted me at all costs and I didn’t hesitate in accepting.”
Torino were declared one of the winners of the transfer window by the pink. Only Inter and Roma received a higher mark. The money they got from Manchester United for Matteo Darmian was put to good use. A replacement for him was found in Baselli’s Atalanta teammate Davide Zappacosta. Torino made Marco Benassi’s move from Inter permanent and convinced Palermo owner Maurizio Zamparini to part with Andrea Belotti when he was reluctant to do so after already selling Paulo Dybala earlier in the summer.
“We’ve invested in young people,” Cairo told Tuttosport. “I can say with pride that four of our lads - Baselli, Zappacosta, Belotti and Benassi - were the backbone of the last Under-21 team.” Torino have bought a future and a bright one at that. “The club’s strategy has to be an example to other clubs,” Baselli explains. “Only by playing can we develop, improve and be competitive at the highest level. Belotti is a worker. He’ll always give you 110%. Zappa is a willing runner too: if you ask him to dash up and down the flank 150 times he won’t disappoint you. Benassi was a bit of a revelation at the Euros. He deserves the captain’s armband [with the Azzurrini].” Of the new recruits, though, Baselli has been the one to make the biggest impact so far.
“My mates are surprised and I am a little too,” he told La Stampa. He couldn’t have wished for a better start to his Torino career. Sunday’s goal under the storm clouds and rain in Verona was his fourth in a row for his new club and his fifth straight if you factor in his last appearance for Atalanta.
Considered an ‘Eterna Promessa’ in Italy - an Eternal Promise - it would now appear that, at 23, Baselli is beginning to fulfil his potential. Hyped from a young age, whenever an Italian plays in front of the defence and can pass it, comparisons with Pirlo become inevitable. This has long been the cross Baselli has had to bear. As it has been for Marco Verratti and Federico Viviani, his Under-21 teammate, whose free-kick set up Verona’s second goal in the 2-2 draw with Torino on Sunday. Also recall it wasn’t really until Pirlo was Baselli’s age that Carlo Mazzone found the right position for him. It took time to figure it out. And besides Baselli has a different skillset and role model.
“I’m crazy about Sergio Busquets’ style of play. He touches the ball thousands of times and never makes a mistake. Iniesta is another of the players I follow but naturally we’re on completely different planets.” Remember Baselli lost his place at Atalanta. Edy Reja preferred Luca Cigarini, another player around whom there were great expectations. As with Cerci, once again though Ventura has shown an understanding of Baselli’s game that escaped other managers. “He has taught me new movements,” Baselli reveals. “I’m better off-centre. His style of play lifts my game. With Ventura, the shuttling midfielders play closer to goal. This is why I have been able to get off the mark so soon.”
It helps, as Atalanta’s wise and highly-esteemed academy director Mino Favini attests, that “he has a great shot” too. His winner against Frosinone, which sealed Torino’s first away victory on the opening weekend in 22 years, and his clincher against Fiorentina came from outside of the box. Right now his conversion rate in the league stands at 100% when he hits the target. His three shots have all gone in and as such he is currently responsible for 43% of Torino's goals. There is an efficient decisiveness about Baselli. He isn’t on the ball all the time. Only 21 passes went through him on Sunday. Instead he led Torino in tackles [6].
As a collective they have been thrilling to watch this season, coming back from behind in every game. Not since 1993 have Torino got seven points from the opening nine available. “We hope to be the surprise package,” Baselli confessed to La Gazzetta. “For me, being at Torino already feels like being at a big club.”
Italy coach Antonio Conte must be encouraged by what he has seen over the weekend. His national team has struggled for goals through qualifying. But Pepito Rossi is back after 482 days. Mario Balotelli took the Milan derby by the scruff of the neck after coming on in the second half. And Baselli must excite him, particularly as someone who has always built teams around midfielders capable of breaking forward and getting goals. Expect Conte to call him up to the senior squad for the Azerbaijan and Norway games next month.
Which brings us back to Milan. You wonder if they might regret not following through on the groundwork they laid to get Baselli. Their loss is unmistakably Torino's gain.
Will AC Milan be made to rue their decision not to sign Daniele Baselli? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
