Out Of The Blue: Italy Continue To Overlook Antonio Di Natale
With injury and illness robbing Cesare Prandelli of two players who were quickly establishing themselves as Italy's first choice pairing under the former Fiorentina coach, it has quickly become necessary to look for alternative options in attack for the Azzurri. Such is the gravity of the situation with both Giuseppe Rossi and Antonio Cassano, it is arguable both will miss next summers European Championships and the need to plan without them becomes paramount.
Perhaps looking to Serie A's Capocannoniere race is all too simplistic a solution, but doing so puts one name clearly ahead of all others. Topping the scoring race, as he has at the end of each of the last two seasons, is Udinese's captain and irreplaceable talisman Antonio Di Natale. Obviously as Prandelli builds for the future his age counts against him, but with eight goals - and one assist - in the Zebrette's nine games so far, the 34 year old striker has fired his team to the top of the table going into this latest international break, level on points with Lazio but above much more heralded sides like Milan and a resurgent Juventus.
The loss of last season's star man Alexis Sánchez, as well as Cristián Zapata and Gökhan İnler was the subject of seemingly limitless media attention, yet talk of a collapse after their departures has simply not materialised. Their summer moves, to Barcelona, Napoli and Villarreal respectively, merely allowed the Friulian outfit to do what they always have and restock the squad with another batch of unknown players who have slotted in immediately alongside the quality players who remained, such as goalkeeper Samir Handanovič, the relentless Mauricio Isla and a much improved Kwadwo Asamoah.
Coach Francesco Guidolin has however altered their play somewhat, the many changes making a continuation of the stylish and effective play from last season impossible. It has been replaced by a steely determination and Udinese are now a much more solid and cautious outfit, a switch that looks to have worked, given they have conceded just four goals in their opening ten games of the season.
Yet while the form of the young and much altered team has indeed been superb - and is undoubtedly deserving of the recognition - the man once again leading the Zebrette attack has lived almost his entire career in the shadow of others. He may not be well known outside Italy but within the peninsula Di Natale has an ever growing group of admirers. He is certainly in the twilight of his playing days, yet far from being yesterdays man, he is arguably in the form of his life - with an average WhoScored.com rating of 7.87 thus far this term - a true Indian summer in a career that has rarely hit the headlines.
Many strikers have hit so called purple patches before but looking back as far as his injury hit 2008-09 campaign, 'Toto' has been almost unstoppable. In that time he has netted an astonishing 77 goals in just 92 league matches, a strike rate simply unmatched by any other forward in Italy's current crop. Indeed looking at the names revealed by Prandelli for this weeks friendlies over that same time period, none come close to matching the once again overlooked Di Natale. Giampaolo Pazzini is closest with 59 goals (in 95 appearances), followed by Alessandro Matri (43 in 81), Mario Balotelli a quite impressive 28 in 48, Pablo Osvaldo the same total but in 61 matches while Sebastian Giovinco has just 16, albeit in a meagre 51 games, many of which were as a substitute.
Missing out once again however, has become normal for Di Natale, who in 2002 became only the second Empoli player ever to represent the Italian National team, following in the footsteps of his then strike partner Massimo Maccarone. Since then he has managed just 36 caps, in which he has scored ten goals, only being part of two tournament squads as he travelled to both Euro 2008 and the ill fated World Cup in South Africa. His strike rate in the blue shirt of the national team compares favourably with those in the squad too, considered against Pazzini's 3 goals in 21 caps and Matri's 1 in 2, while Giovinco has none in 6, Balotelli yet to score in 5 and Osvaldo failed to net on his debut last time out.
Many point to a lack of big game experience, yet here is a man with nine goals in his 22 appearances in continental cup competitions, again an impressive strike-rate. He was one of two players to miss in the Quarter Final penalty shootout with Spain which led to Italy’s elimination. But in the intervening years Di Natale has matured into the leader he is today, becoming the Udinese captain - an honour he would emulate for his country in a friendly against Sweden in late 2009 - and overtaking Oliver Bierhoff’s record goal tally for Udinese on his way to the 2009-10 Capocannoniere crown. His consistent form and reliability as a scorer have seen him move up to sixth in the active leading scorers chart for Serie A, now just three goals behind Fiorentina's Alberto Gilardino who has, like the other four men ahead of them, played far more games than Di Natale.
Last summer he refused to discuss terms with Juventus, despite Udinese agreeing a fee with the Turin club as the player cited his desire to see out his career at the Friuli club, thanking them for all they have allowed him to become and saying;
“It was a choice of life for me. I feel so good here in Udine, and the president’s family have always made me feel like I was one of them. Some things are worth more than money.”
The loyalty of a man like Antonio Di Natale is most certainly one of them, but so too it would seem, is a recall to the Azzurri.
