Every now and again the gift of genius is handed to someone who simply has no idea how to make full use of it. Step forward Antonio Cassano, a player of undoubted talent with the ball at his feet, but a man whose instinctive nature that makes him so good on the pitch often betrays him off it. After two years in the wilderness, Sampdoria have given him what may be his last chance to make sure he doesn’t become one of the greatest ever players who never was.
“The time has come for this boy to take advantage of the opportunity that has been given to him by a club which I think is ideal,” noted former Italy boss Marcello Lippi. “Sampdoria is the perfect environment for him seeing as they will offer the right tranquillity for Cassano to express his talent.”
There are those out there who clearly have little time for someone who has often been depicted as a spoilt brat. A character who is difficult to keep control of, he has problems with authority which make him an unpopular figure in and outside the changing room. But not all football fans are looking for role models, some simply crave heroes and match-winners – categories that the Bari-born starlet can fall into.
Had Cassano been any other player, his top-level career may well have already been brought to a premature end by now. Yet Antonio has an attractive, perhaps fatal, get out of jail card which he has continued to use and that is his flair for the game. “As a man he is the minimum out there,” former Roma teammate Gabriel Batistuta once stated. “But as a player he is one of the best, after Diego Maradona, that I have ever seen.”
Batigol’s view is one shared by former Milan maestro Arrigo Sacchi, which plainly underlines the sheer amount of ability which is packed into Cassano’s small and stocky frame. “He is a huge talent, but I’ve never considered him a champion,” Sacchi noted. “He needs to mature and find some stability because God blessed him with great feet, but not such a great brain.”
Cassano first hit the headlines in 1999 when he scored a wondrous individual goal for Bari against Inter – the team he supported as a boy. Unearthed, molly-coddled, loved and fought over on the transfer market, the teenager joined Roma for a massive £20m in a move that would see him play alongside idol Francesco Totti. But problems were never far away for a boy whose childhood was plagued with difficulties. His escape to Real was hardly an inspired move when even teaming up with Fabio Capello, the only Coach who really got the best out of him in the Italian capital, failed to rejuvenate him. Two goals in 19 games were all that Madrid could offer him in 18 months.
Despite his seven years of ‘Cassanate’ – a term launched by Don Fabio to describe the player’s regular misdemeanours – the Italian has been handed yet another chance. Although the historical big three of Italian football all opted to snub him during the summer, Luciano Moggi is adamant that he could be the signing of 2007. The latter’s reputation as a football official was destroyed by Calciopoli, but the former Bianconeri director general can undoubtedly spot a player.
“Cassano is a champion and Sampdoria have done some great business because he will be so motivated to do well this season,” he stated. “I would have signed him when I was at Juventus, while I think Napoli should have gone for him this summer as he would have been the perfect partner alongside Ezequiel Lavezzi. I also suggested him as a possible heir to Luis Figo at Inter.”
Love him or loathe him, Italian football needs Cassano. With Alessandro Del Piero coming towards the end of his career and Francesco Totti waving goodbye to the international scene, the second striker has the ability to make the Azzurri No 10 shirt his own. That’s why the time has finally arrived for the enigmatic fantasista to rediscover his best form, silence his critics and reward those who have always had faith in his talent.
“I only wanted Sampdoria,” claimed Cassano after he completed his loan move. “I could have gone elsewhere for more money, but Samp were the only club who are able to make me feel important again and they were the best option for me and my characteristics. I don’t need to be re-born, I just need to play football like I can. I’ll do well, I know that for a fact.
“As for the national team, it is obvious that I think about it but it is also clear that I must firstly do something of merit here for my club. If I can do well for Sampdoria then I could then become useful for Roberto Donadoni. Representing your country is the maximum for any player and I really hope with all my heart that I can return to the Giro Azzurro.”
The port club appear, on paper at least, to be an ideal match for Il Talentino at this stage of his career. They should be able to offer him regular first-team football – something that Cassano always believed he should have got at Roma and Real. They have a strong Coach in Walter Mazzarri who is ready to give the kid an opportunity and the majority of Doria fans have welcomed him with anticipation. All the ingredients that the enigma, who has chosen the No 99 shirt as 18 was taken, seems to need.
“I will do everything in my power to repay the club and fans for the faith shown in me,” he added. “I think this environment will be just what I require. Players like me need to feel important, but crucially to have affection, which is what I’ve received so far. I didn’t think that 2,000 people would turn up at my unveiling and it is really satisfying to be considered in such a manner. Sampdoria are ambitious like myself and we will do great things together.
“I want to win back the belief of all the sceptics who over these past few years have had something to say about me. I have often made mistakes, but I am still a youngster. I have seven or eight years ahead of me in my career and I want to live through those days as a protagonist. There are certain rules here and it is my intention to respect them. I won’t make any specific pledges, but I’ll be in the news for the things I do on the pitch rather than for my actions away from it.”
Of course cynics will argue that Cassano has already broken too many promises in the past to be taken seriously. Yet the biggest mistake when it comes to Il Genio di Bari would be to deprive him of the chance to do what he was put on this planet to do. Let’s stop judging him as a man for at least one season and see where that gets him, Sampdoria and Italy. After all, genius often doesn’t solely lie in having a specific gift but also in lacking another.
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