Cristian Volpato – another gem from Trigoria by Saul Morris
This report is going to be analysing AS Roma’s Cristian Volpato. This will be focusing on his strengths and weaknesses as well as assessing both his current ability and potential ability.
Biography:
Name: Cristian Volpato
Nationality: Italian (Also eligible for Australia although he has rejected a call-up)
Date of Birth: November 15 th , 2003
Height: 1.87m (6”2)
Strong Foot: Left
Current Club: AS Roma
Position: Attacking Midfield
Value: €3.00m
At just 19 years of age, Volpato is one of the most promising players emerging from the AS Roma youth ranks, after having made his Serie A debut in the 21/22 season, even club legend Francesco Totti likened Volpato to himself, the highest of praises a player for Roma could possibly get. He has been impressing on the national stage too with the Italian under 19, 20 and 21 teams and this report will look into his strengths, weaknesses and just how good he can be.
Career Summary:
Cristian Volpato is an attacking midfielder who started his career with the youth teams of Western Sydney Wanderers in the country of his birth, Australia. He was spotted by AS Roma who paid a fee of €116K to sign him. He shined in his second year in Rome grabbing 4 goals and 1 assist in 15 games for the under 18’s and then progressed even further by then getting 11 goals and 4 assists in 28 games in the Primavera, the age group above. This good form led to him making his Serie A debut in the 20/21 season and got his first goal for the club too. He has currently made 10 appearances for the first team this season, 6 in Serie A, 3 in the Europa league and 1 in the Coppa Italia, getting 1 goal and 1 assist in total.
Style of Play:
As previously mentioned, Volpato’s game has been compared to AS Roma legend Francesco Totti. A more modern comparison would be one of either Atletico Madrid and France’s Antoine Griezmann, or current teammate and Argentinian international, Paulo Dybala. This shows how his development could be going so positively due to training and playing with a player such as Dybala who has had such a wonderful career who can mentor him to follow suit. Volpato is fairly versatile with his positioning, predominantly used as an attacking midfielder in the ‘10’ position but is more than comfortable playing on the right hand side cutting in on that dangerous left foot and on the more rare occasion, can play off the left if needed. He is very comfortable and confident on the ball and is not afraid to run at the defenders. When operated on the right side he likes to hug the touchline and drive in when he receives it but is far from lazy and works hard on the defensive side when needed, playing under a manager such as Jose Mourinho can only be beneficial for the development of his work rate as he expects 110% from all of his players. He prefers much shorter passing and playing one-twos with his closest teammates rather than long or threaded passes and finds more joy in the tight spaces where he can use his trickery, along with his skillful teammates such as Dybala, to break the press and move forward.
His main strengths are his confidence, quick feet and acceleration. For a young player coming through in a top club in a top league it does not seem to faze him at all and he seems to play with freedom on the pitch. He is not afraid to open up his bag of tricks and take on multiple players by himself, he is almost always positive and forward thinking and looks towards the opposition goal most of the time rather than recycling the play and letting someone else try and break the lines. His quick feet get him out of very tight spaces often and allows him to have successful interchanges with his attacking teammates, when deployed on the right hand side he hugs the touchline and still finds the space to evade opposition tackles whether that’s going down the wing or more direct through the centre of the pitch. When through the centre he is happy to pick the ball up in between the opposition midfielders and turn on it quickly in either direction. His acceleration is especially helpful alongside Roma’s style of play; they often sit back and wait patiently for the counter attacks, as Mourinho teams usually do, so when he receives the ball his burst forward helps the attack flow more freely. When receiving the ball from a standing position, even if flat-footed, he is able to skip past opposition tackles with ease due to his acceleration from a standing position being so quick.
His main weaknesses are his weak foot, his physical presence and his decision making. He seems to be very one footed, he always seems to want to get it on his left foot even when that makes the situation much more difficult, this can make him easier to defend against as defenders can force him onto his right and he may struggle. His lack of physical presence prevents him from winning a vast majority of his ground duels and he seems to be outmuscled in many 50/50’s which may be a result of him adjusting to the senior team level still but it still does not knock his confidence on the ball at all which is good to see. His decision making needs some work which again will come with time as he will be used to having more time on the ball in the Primavera leagues, his lack of composure in the final third leads to some rushed decisions where the wrong final delivery is often made. He could do with scanning the surrounding area more often just before receiving the ball as he looks up once he has received it but this is far too late as the opposition is already pressing by this point; however his quick feet get him out of trouble often. He does work hard on the defensive end and tracks back well but needs to be tougher in those defensive actions as positioning alone is not enough to prevent attacks.
Potential:
From what Volpato has shown so far, he most definitely has the potential to become a starter for AS Roma and to be a key figure for the Italian national team. Having such a successful manager such as Jose Mourinho could be pivotal in his development and having such a similar player, technique and position- wise as Paulo Dybala as his teammate will also only be beneficial for him. Hopefully the 23/24 season will see an increase in minutes and starts and then the Italian national team call up won’t be far away.