Berardi Starting With a Point to Prove Following Disappointing Season

Giampiero Ventura will name his first Italy squad at the weekend. The expectation is he will pick up where Antonio Conte left off and call up many of the players that represented the Azzurri at the Euros over the summer. Ventura doesn’t have a lot of time. There is a friendly against France in Bari next Thursday and then a World Cup qualifier in Israel. Without the training sessions to put his own stamp on the team, continuity will instead be given to the system and style Conte implemented, which, incidentally is one of the reasons Ventura got the job in the first place.  

Novelties will be few and far between at least initially and Domenico Berardi for one will probably have to wait a little longer for his first call-up to the national team. In some respects it is strange he has not been integrated into the senior team already. Berardi has been a regular in Serie A for three years now. He made headlines around the world by becoming the youngest player since Silvio Piola to score four goals in a single match and it wasn’t just any match either. They came against Milan and cost Max Allegri his job. That was two and a half years ago.  

In the meantime Berardi has put another hat-trick past them. Still, Conte decided to leave him with Gigi di Biagio and the Under-21s. He got some criticism in doing so but in Conte’s defence the Azzurrini had the Euros coming up last summer and Berardi has captained the team ever since. In fact, one of the reasons he is unlikely to be in Ventura’s maiden 23 is because it clashes with a qualifier against Serbia in Vicenza on September 2, which promises to be crucial to their efforts to make the Under-21 Euros in Poland next summer.  

Italy have also been cautious with him. Overly cautious in some people’s view. To some extent, however, they are the ones who have been made to wait. You might recall Berardi served a nine-month ban for not answering a call-up to the Under-19s and wasn’t eligible for selection for the Azzurrini until the spring of 2014. Conte was also justified in not taking him to the Euros in the summer. Some despaired, particularly given the talent deficit in attack. But the truth is Berardi did not deserve to be included.  

Last season was his most underwhelming in Serie A. By Berardi’s standards, he went backwards. In his first season in the top flight, for instance, he had a hand in 21 goals and scored as many hat-tricks as Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez (3). His second was even better. Berardi combined for 25 and did the double-double in goals (15) and assists (10).  

He reached 30 top-flight goals at a younger age than Roberto Mancini. To find a player more precocious than Berardi in this regard, you have to go all the way back to 1958 and Ezio Pascutti. Even then, he only ‘beat’ Berardi by a day. To relate it to the modern era, the papers in Italy had to broaden their horizons and found that, in Europe’s top five leagues, Berardi had reached this particular landmark in fewer games (59) than Lionel Messi (71).   

The bar had been raised and as one can imagine expectations rose with them. Berardi did not live up to them. He was involved in ‘only’ 13 league goals despite missing just two games through injury and four through suspension, yet he ranks second for direct goal contribution (61) in Serie A since August 2013. It didn’t stop Juventus calling in their option to sign him for €25m this summer. To their surprise, Berardi opted to stay with Sassuolo. It wasn’t a refusal, Juventus’ general manager Beppe Marotta, was keen to point out. More a deferral. “We’ll talk again in a year,” Sassuolo owner Giorgio Squinzi revealed.  

There has been speculation about whether he wants to join Juventus at all. Berardi already turned them down when he was 12. Legend has it he told Juventus’ scout for the south of Italy, “I’m not interested. I support Inter.” Now a professional, Berardi has clarified that his allegiances as a boy have no bearing on his career choices. “Now I am only a fan of motorsport,” he explained to La Gazzetta. “Ferrari and Valentino Rossi.” Further evidence of that materialised this summer when Inter were also informed that Berardi wasn’t holding out for them and would not be agitating for a move to San Siro.  

The truth is less sensational. Berardi simply didn’t feel ready. The timing wasn’t right. Berardi wanted to get last season out of his system. In order to do that, he needs to play regularly and there were no guarantees of that at Juventus. While Max Allegri gradually introduced Alvaro Morata, Paulo Dybala and then Daniele Rugani to great effect, the plight of his old teammate Simone Zaza perhaps made Berardi hesitate. Zaza started only five league games last season compared with 29 in his final year at the Mapei Stadium.  

Parallels have been drawn between Berardi and Pietro Paolo Virdis in 1977. Virdis was 20 at the time and had just scored 18 goals for Cagliari in Serie B. Juventus saw in him the successor to Robert Boninsegna. Virdis opposed the move for much of the summer until Giampiero Boniperti, Juventus’ honorary president, interrupted his holiday in Sardinia to persuade him it was the right thing to do. Virdis joined but he should have listened to his gut and not Boniperti. He wasn’t ready and, despite winning the Scudetto twice and a Coppa Italia, never fulfilled his potential in Turin. Virdis resurrected his career at Udinese before winning everything with Sacchi’s Milan.  

Berardi found himself in a similar position this summer. Similar, but not entirely the same, because while Virdis moved to Juventus on the back of a fine season, Berardi chose not to because he needed to rebuild his confidence after a below-par campaign. Some have suggested he is Peter Pan - the boy who doesn’t want to grow up.  His first coach Riccardo Voltarelli has claimed he doesn’t like change. Eusebio di Francesco backs it up. “He doesn’t like sudden change. He needs an arm-round-the-shoulder. You’ve got to humour him. I’ve got no doubt he’ll become a great player. He’s our Robben.”  

Personally, I consider Berardi’s decision to be a sign of maturity. Rather than focus on whether or not he is playing in his comfort zone, I believe it takes courage to not give into the temptation of a pay rise and delay the prestige of playing for one of Europe's elite in the interests of your own development. For now staying with Sassuolo is the best thing for him.   

Berardi has definitely started the season as if he has got a point to prove and to say he is back on track is an understatement. His performances so far indicate he is going to the next level. Berardi scored three of Sassuolo’s four goals against Luzern in the Europa League. He then got another, laid on an assist for Matteo Politano and hit the post in a 3-0 win against Red Star Belgrade, which should be enough to book their place in the group stages. On Sunday, Berardi opened his account in Serie A with a match-winning penalty in Palermo. It was the 16th he has converted from 19 attempts.  

“He's an extraordinary kid,” di Francesco said. “He’s attached to Sassuolo and to me. In my opinion he’s ready for a big club. Maybe he’s got it into his head that Sassuolo are one and decided to stay because of that. In the end his development will involve accepting a new challenge. I’m just happy to get to coach him again.”

Can Berardi rediscover his best form after a blistering start to the season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below