Daniele Rugani

So if there's one thing we all no its that Italians no how to defend they've turned it into an art form and really teach us the importance of technical defending. So it's no surprise that I'm writing a blog about a young Italian defender it's almost expected however the lad in question is Daniele Rugani and I'm going to explain why you should remember the name.

Daniele was born in Lucca which is a city in Tuscany and it's there were he started his journey signing for Empoli at the age of 6 years old yes 6 years old I was playing with pokemon cards at 6 years old although i did get a shiny Charizard so yeah........ He stayed with Empoli for 12 seasons working his way up the ranks before he got noticed by Juventus who took him on loan, after a successful season with Juve's youth leavel they decided to go in on a co-ownership deal then immediately loan him back out to Empoli. It was this move that changed everything going on loan to Empoli gave Rugani the chance to play first team football and that's exactly what he did starring in Empoli's promotion push as they finished 2nd in Serie B and to top it off Rugani even won the best player of Serie B 2014.
Then the real test came and this season at 20 years old Rugani began his first Serie A campaign no one had huge hope's for Empoli but they managed to finish 15th and Rugani was again the stand out performer Juve again acted quickly and brought him outright for around 5 million he now heads back to Juventus ready to challenge the likes of Bonucci and Chiellini to a first team place.

So whats he all about ? Is this all Just media hype ?

Well lets look at the facts Rugani is a smart thinking technical defender having played over 3,400 minutes in Serie A last season he didn't even receive a single booking  now you could argue that he doesn't like to get stuck in but with a stat of  an average of 1.3 tackles per game I beg to differ specially when Bonucci of Juventus was averaging 1.0 tackles per game.This lad is class he has good height strong running even if he's not the fastest plus he is composed on the ball and doesn't seemed to be phased on any stage he plays. Juventus have really done some smart business with this kid and I expect in a couple of months time people will be starting to realize what a player he is International caps are not far away and when you think Juventus only paid around 5 million for him it really makes me think that the other teams have missed out you only have to look at someone like John Stones who again is a class player and has Chelsea bidding 20 million plus for him it's safe to say Juventus have grabbed a bargain and I believe Rugani will go onto huge things.

Thanks Guys let me no what you think :)