Oh, To Be 20 and Top of the World

By: Martha | January 10th, 2008

Things are pretty good for Giuseppe Rossi right now. The New Jersey born and raised Italian has already made his mark (albeit with varying degrees of permanence) on three major European leagues, been compared to Paul Scholes by Sir Alex Ferguson, almost single-handedly saved Parma from relegation, scored seven goals in his first 10 matches for Villarreal, and become a regular for the Italian U-21 team. Yeah, and he’s just 20 years old.

As Chris mentioned in his mid-season roundup of transfer successes, Rossi made a brief, heroic second-half stop in Serie A with Parma last season, keying a survival surge by his boyhood club with nine goals in 18 matches. Parma fans, not surprisingly, were desperate to keep him, but the rumored €10 million fee demanded by Manchester United for his services was a little rich for their blood, and he was snapped up by Villarreal, heading off to his third league in 12 months. And oh, what a success it’s been.

Those seven goals immediately made Yellow Submarine supporters fall in love with their pint-sized new arrival and, though his bid for world domination was slowed by a knee injury in the fall, Rossi is back to full fitness and returning to form, hoping to help his team continue their surprising run in the upper reaches of La Liga.

Though in the past it might have been true that Rossi would have to move back to Serie A in order to have a legit shot at a spot in the senior Italian national team (He’s not going to choose the US, people. Give it up.), the fact is that four regular members of Roberto Donadoni’s team — Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Cristiano Lucarelli (Shakhtar Donetsk), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona, not Real) and captain Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid) — are based outside of Italy, and it’s completely absurd these days to suggest Rossi would be kept out of the team because he plays in Spain. Granted, barring a goal explosion the likes of which the world has never seen, the kid won’t be traveling to the Euros or anything, but over the next couple of years, he’s got as a shot as any of the U-21 strikers to make a jump to the seniors side — and that’s no matter where he’s playing.