Aston Villa forward Nicolo Zaniolo is enduring a difficult time away from the Premier League outfit as his performance in Italy’s 1-1 draw with North Macedonia comes under fire.
In what was supposed to be the dawn of a bold new era for an Italy side now under the stewardship of Napoli’s Serie A-winning head coach Luciano Spalletti, those tired old flaws were there for all to see as the minnows of North Macedonia snatched a point off an Azzurri side who have failed to qualify for two of the last three major tournaments.
A front three of Matteo Polintani, Mattia Zaccagni and captain Ciro Immobile struggled to build on a 1-0 lead before Enis Bardhi’s stunning late equaliser, while Aston Villa’s Nicolo Zaniolo made little impact following his introduction at the interval.
Aston Villa ace Nicolo Zaniolo struggles in Italy draw
“There will be some changes of sure (in Italy’s next game). We need people who can play one-v-one on the wing,” former Azzurri international Antonio di Gennaro tells Tuttomercatoweb.
“Zaccagni isn’t well in attack, maybe we’ll see (Napoli’s Giacomo) Raspadori. Zaniolo came on. He did well for ten minutes but then he did everything wrong.”
Zaniolo, a loan signing from Galatasaray, has played only 42 minutes of Premier League football so far. The former Roma forward certainly has a long way to go if he is to convince Aston Villa to press ahead with a permanent deal which could set Unai Emery’s side back an eye-watering £37 million with add-ons and bonuses included.
‘A dream to go to the Premier League’
“When this opportunity arrived in the Premier League with Aston Villa and Monchi, we worked with Galatasaray. It was hard to convince them (to let Zaniolo go). But it is the dream of all players to go to the Premier League,” agent Claudio Vigorelli tells Radio Sportiva.
“This was a great opportunity. I thank Galatasaray and its president for having made Nicolo’s dream come true in a negotiation that was complicated at the beginning.”
“Nicolo would still have been happy to stay in Turkey. He was thinking about the Champions League, and he was happy. Then Aston Villa arrived, and we saw how it went.”
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