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| | Week 27 Spotlight: Born-again Bojinov | Monday 27 February, 2006 |
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 Player of the Week: Bojinov (Fiorentina)
Serie A re-embraced one of its most promising youngsters over the weekend when Valeri Bojinov turned on the style during Fiorentina’s win at Parma. Having gone 2-0 down and staring at a third straight defeat in a row, the Bulgarian international drew the sides level with a brace before his teammates did the rest in a 4-2 victory.
Although the club would have been clearly delighted with a triumph which keeps their Champions League dream alive, the resurgence of Bojinov is a relief to everyone at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. After all, it was just a month ago when he was caught on camera wiping the tears away from his eyes after a potential transfer to Inter fell through.
Bojinov arrived at Fiorentina in January 2005 after the Viola paid a staggering £11m for the player who was still a few weeks shy of his 19th birthday. Any hopes that the transition of leaving behind little Lecce for ambitious Fiorentina would be easy were quickly dashed. Suspension, the club’s fight against relegation and injury all conspired to make sure that Bojinov couldn’t deliver the kind of performances and goals that had lit up the Via Del Mare in the first half of the campaign.
Thankfully for Bojinov, Fiorentina escaped the dreaded drop and moved in the summer to net Cesare Prandelli – a Coach with a proven track record of working with young players following his spells at Atalanta and Parma. Add to that fact that the club had again significantly reinforced their squad and everything was in place for Bojinov to finally deliver.
Things didn’t quite work out though as the Bulgarian, who made his Serie A debut at the age of just 15, spent most of the first half of the campaign as a fringe player. That’s because Prandelli decided to keep faith with a 4-2-3-1 system which got the best out of Luca Toni’s undisputed ability in front of goal.
Bojinov’s eagerness to feature on the big stage was proving to be a problem and his lack of years eventually saw him bite. Still unhappy with the way he was being used by Prandelli, he publicly demanded that he be sold. So desperate was he to move on that he declared his intention to join Inter just 24 hours before claiming that he was ready to sign for Bayern Munich.
Fiorentina, rightly, took exception to his pleas. In an effort to remind him exactly who pays his wages, Bojinov was frozen out of the first team squad and relegated to the youth team. To make matters worse, he failed to impress club officials by being dismissed in his first Primavera match.
A split seemed inevitable with Inter knocking on the Viola’s door. A bid was made to take him on loan, but with Inter offering nothing in return, the Tuscan club ended talks and told the player he would be going nowhere.
It would have been easy for Bojinov to sulk in the stands for the rest of the term but this boy has character. He ate the biggest piece of humble pie during a media conference where he publicly apologised to all involved. He was rewarded for that with another chance and he’s definitely making the most of it.
“I have made mistakes in the past,” Bojinov said on Saturday night. “However, I have had time to see the error of my ways. I won’t be acting like that in the future. Now I’m playing again and looking to score. I have now returned to getting important goals.” They probably won’t be his last of the season…
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Goal of the Week: Emerson (Juventus)
Emerson doesn’t get many goals but when they do come they are worth waiting for. Having gone a year without a League strike, the Brazilian made amends against Lecce with a goal Ronaldinho would have been proud of. The former Roma man redirected a wayward Adrian Mutu effort with a cheeky back-heeled flick to draw Juventus back on level terms. |
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Number of the Week: 11
Roma’s 2-0 win over rivals Lazio made Serie A history given that it was the first time that a club had won 11 consecutive League games in Italian football. |
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| Words: Antonio Labbate |
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