Man Utd and Liverpool target FLOPS on transfer audition
Cameron Smith
- 18 Oct 2023 08:00 BST
- 4 min read
Atalanta defender Giorgio Scalvini was under the spotlight at Wembley as the Manchester United and Liverpool target started for Italy in their Euro 2024 qualifier against England on Tuesday night.
Scalvini, 19, is considered to be one of the brightest young talents in world football and has already racked up 65 senior appearances for Atalanta despite his young age.
READ MORE: Neymar nightmare! Al-Hilal star suffers major setback
Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that “important clubs around Europe are sending their scouts to keep an eye on Scalvini,” while 90min have reported that Man Utd and Liverpool are two teams keen on signing the young Italian.
However, with countless Man Utd and Liverpool fans watching on, Scalvini faltered as he struggled to deal with the pace and tenacity of England’s frontline as Italy lost 3-1 against Gareth Southgate’s side.
READ MORE: Serie A giants set €50m asking price for Man Utd target
Scalvini’s Wembley nightmare
Scalvini looked off the pace from the start. Harry Kane quickly identified that battling the youngster would be far more rewarding than facing his centre-back partner Francesco Acerbi and he reaped the rewards.
Kane dominated every battle against Scalvini and the Atalanta wonderkid was taught somewhat of a footballing lesson by England’s front four of Phil Foden, Marcus Rashford, Jude Bellingham and Kane.
Scalvini never looked comfortable on the ball and while his 94% pass accuracy in the game is actually an impressive rate, he was jittery and nervous throughout, never playing with much conviction with the ball at his feet.
He frequently stepped out of the defensive line, resulting in an eye-catching six tackles, but Scalvini was often bullied off the ball and was weak in several instances as England came from 1-0 down to win 3-1.
Furthermore, he was cautioned for dissent by referee Clement Turpin and was partially at fault for Harry Kane’s second goal of the night. After Alessandro Bastoni was bullied to the ground by Kane, Scalvini was slow to react and was beaten to the ball by the Bayern forward, who isn’t known for his pace despite his many attributes.
The Atalanta man should’ve been favourite to reach the ball first, but the sensible option would’ve been to drop off and back himself one vs one against Kane. However, he overcommitted, lost out and Italy conceded a third.
All in all, it was a horror show from Scalvini, who will not have convinced Man Utd and Liverpool to put their money where their mouth is and sign the Atalanta starlet.
Of course, he is still extremely young and will have the chance to learn from this experience, but Scalvini will need to prove that he is capable of performing against the best opposition before the likes of Man Utd and Liverpool heavily pursue a deal.
