The 28-year-old defender was a key player at Inter Milan before being gradually frozen out.
While new Hull City boss Marco Silva will rightfully garner credit following two amazing results, with a 0-0 draw at Manchester United and a 2-0 win over Liverpool, there’s another man who deserves immense praise – Andrea Ranocchia.
Prior to the 28-year-old defender’s deadline day loan arrival, the Tigers had kept one Premier League clean sheet all season. In Ranocchia’s two games, Hull have yet to concede.
Liverpool’s James Milner shoots at goal past the challenge of Hull City’s Andrea Ranocchia
Quite how Hull landed a player of Ranocchia’s quality is remarkable, even on a temporary basis, with the Italy international once playing a vital role at the San Siro.
In 2010, the Nerazzurri spent big money to bring his services to Milan, and his importance grew so much, he replaced Inter legend Javier Zanetti as club captain in 2014.
Andrea Ranocchia
However, Ranocchia’s form suffered in recent seasons and consequently, he was stripped of the captaincy and dropped. Last season, he joined Sampdoria on loan in a bid to make Italy’s Euro 2016 squad, but ultimately failed and hasn’t featured for his nation since 2015.
The ability is still clearly there, and if Hull can utilise that, they’ve got a great chance of survival. As for Ranocchia, if he remains consistent, he might even get his dream return to the Italy squad.
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