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Who Is Samuele Ricci? The New Torino & Italy Midfield Star (Ep. 453)
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How good is Samuele Ricci? After an impressive full international debut for Italy in the 3-1 Nations League win over France, Nima Tavallaey and Carlo Garganese do a profile deep dive on the Torino midfielder discussing, detailing and analyzing Ricci's his profile, stats, age, club background, position as well as the latest transfer news surrounding the player.
This is an extended clip from this week's free Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google podcasts.
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Transcript
Introduction and Player Overview
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast. Let's do this profile then on Samuel Ericci, Samuel Ericci who was the ah breakout star let's say of this of this win against France in Paris, his first competitive start for for the international team. Only his third cap for for Italy. He was absolutely magnificent. So he's 23 years old. He's a central midfielder. Very complete midfielder. Very tactically versatile in the midfielder. You can play as a holding midfielder, almost like a regista like he was in this game. But he you can also play as a Metzala, which is often played for Torino. and But he's he is quite complete. He's good technically. He covers the ground. He's good positionally.
00:00:47
Speaker
tackle and joe and but you can pass well i can do a bit of everything is well built physically he's over six foot um he's he's got personality which we saw against france you know he always wants the board to take responsibility and very very completely anything really missing i think in terms of completeness is he doesn't.
Attributes and Player Comparison
00:01:06
Speaker
doesn't score enough and he's not enough of a really of a goal threat in terms of goals and assists but in terms of you know like basic attributes technically and physically and and like probably even mentally i think he i think he ticks pretty much all the boxes don't you don't you say nima I absolutely love this little guy. He's not little, but I call out little guy because he was a little kid when I discovered him at Empoli. He is from Tuscany. He's born in near Pisa, um and he was just he came to he came to pe he came to Empoli in 2017.
00:01:43
Speaker
um ah when when he was just 16 years old. um And of course, at Empoli, he found the perfect environment. um And it's funny because even though he's been you know his role on the pitch has been you know compared to Sandro Tonali or Pirlo in terms of being a Metzal or Regista, he's actually, he's he's on the record as saying that his is um his idol or his inspiration is Ronaldinho. I think he's, for me, he's more Georgiño than he is any of those players. If I'm going to make any comparisons, then you know I don't really like doing these comparisons. He's the secondary assist man. He's not one that will score a lot of goals in a series, but he's the one that starts
00:02:29
Speaker
makes that secondary assist before the goals or assists are played are made. um I think he's got an incredible life, football IQ. I love how patient he is with the ball. No, I ah really, really, really like him. um and And he also has a very good, like he can shoot from distance.
00:02:51
Speaker
He really does. and But he but but lot unlike Georgina, he can be physical as well. like he He competes, doesn't he? likewise and he's And he's obviously, I'm not saying he's quick, but he can get around the pitch. He has dynamism. Yeah, whereas Georgina can't get around the pitch. Obviously, that's has always been his weakness. A bit like Lebokka, over short distances, he's he's He's very good in tight spaces. But I think Richie is good in tight spaces. But what I mean is that he's good over, you know, he can he can get across the pitch, which is important, I think. And and that's something and we obviously were lacking in the in the Euros. We were lacking pace and legs, let's say, in the team.
Empoli's Role in Development
00:03:30
Speaker
And, yeah, a very, very, very impressive performance for for Richie. And um he, yeah, like you said, he started his career at Emply. You have an amazing youth academy.
00:03:40
Speaker
um to develop so many talented youngsters in in the last years. I mean and just in they just from their academy, I mean Fatsini, Baladansi, Aslani, Hamid Traore and then if we're going further back players like Dinatale, Montela, I mean these are just the academy players but then we're not even talking about the young talents that have kind of passed through and become stars thanks to thanks to Emply. In recent years, we're looking at Benecer and Vicario and Parisi. I mean, that's just three recent examples. So he's just another, isn't he, from Emply? Oh, he is. And Alessio Dionisi coached him in Serie B, and he was actually named the the player of the Serie B of that season when they won promotion.
00:04:22
Speaker
yeah So no, yeah em look, Empoli and Atalanta, Italy should really thank these these two clubs four for for for giving Italian players a chance and not just giving Italian players a chance, but creating an environment where young Italian talented players can express themselves, can play themselves, can improve and take the next step.
Transfer Prospects and Club Interest
00:04:42
Speaker
um When he you know he moved to Torino, and I think together it's i think it's this is his third season,
00:04:48
Speaker
but i that duo and I love that. I honestly think that right now, watching those two play in Central Midfield is probably what I enjoy the most about the Seria. Just the way that they complement each other in Central Midfield is just truly wonderful to watch.
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah, no, they they are they are they are definitely two players that are set for bigger clubs and and that raises the question of kind of what is the future for Richie? If there's any club screaming for him, it's Mila. Well, that that's that's I'm glad you mentioned them because Milan did try to sign Richie when he was at Empoli before he joined Torino.
00:05:33
Speaker
And they were, again, heavily linked. I don't know how concrete the interest was, but they were heavily linked with him at Torino, even going into this summer. Not so much during the summer, but kind of like earlier on in the year, like end of last season when they were looking ahead to this summer, he was linked to to to to two two Milan. Obviously, eventually, they've gone for Fafana.
00:05:55
Speaker
time will tell on on how well Fafana does. ah He was horrendous for Fafana in this game um and Richie outplayed him in this game, so you know I'm not a judge on one game. But in that as well, I mean, Chalanoglu ain't getting any younger.
00:06:11
Speaker
and if Inter and Napoli have been linked with him. Beppe Marotta's reportedly a big Dan, but obviously the big one this summer was Lazio. Lazio tried to sign it. to yeah and they had their They had an offer of 18 million rejected and Cairo, the Torino president, was asking for 25 to 30 million.
00:06:29
Speaker
But having said that though, Richie's contract runs out in 2026. That makes it clear. Please don't sign a contract extension. That's what I was going to say. It's pretty clear. He either signs a contract extension between now and the summer, next summer, or he's going to leave. He's footballing God. Please hear my call. yeah Two things.
00:06:50
Speaker
So Ricci, don't sign a contract extension with Torino, because otherwise Cairo will sell him to the Premier League, which is my second thing I want to ask you of. Please do not go to the Premier League. Go to Spain, go to France, go to Germany, stay in Italy. Do not go to the Premier League. Well, these thought the thing is with Ricci is you wander after performance like this on the global stage. Everybody would have seen this, this this this win, this performance, and you know, whether is this Is there the risk of of him doing a Cala Fiore where this was the opportunity for the Serie A clubs to sign in this summer and now his his price is going to skyrocket? i mean I think there's less chance of that because the the Euros is such a huge stage. It's a tournament.
00:07:36
Speaker
and whereas UEFA Nations League qualification group games are not are not that and nor is Serie A so I think that that and also with his value of his contract running down which wasn't the case of Califiori I think that probably eliminates that but you know Serie A teams the point is that Serie A teams have to act before the Premier League teams come in because once they come in then it's game over, basically. and that's why if you Even if he went to bloody Spain, I'd rather see him go there because he's I think that kind of football suits him better. you know um I want to see him go to a step up to one of the bigger Serie
Potential in National Team
00:08:16
Speaker
A teams. And that's why, you know again, listen, it's one game. We can't get carried away. We need to see him doing this over. you know I want him to stay in the team now for Italy. I want him to get a little run of games. I'm glad Spelletti gave him the chance.
00:08:28
Speaker
because these are the kind of players that Spleti should be testing and bedding into the national team. If they don't work, they don't work, but we're better off trying them than going back to to known players that we know are not good enough. Christante, there's just no point going back to Christante. We know he's not good enough. So what is the point? You might as well test out a player who is a bit of an unknown quantity, maybe hasn't had the chance to play on a high level,
00:08:52
Speaker
ah And it's a case of well play him if he's not good enough. He's not good enough, but at least you've tried Rather than playing a player like Cristante where you know, they're not good enough and you're not you're just you're not gonna learn anything and you're not gonna progress um and that's why I'm glad Spelletti played him and I think yeah, let's hope that he he gets a run in the team now and And and yeah, we'll see because it's really really could do with we've said haven't we?
00:09:18
Speaker
that Italy need a regista. We are missing a regista. We don't have, even though the talented sentiment fields that we do have, like Barella, like Tonali, and they're not registers. They're not natural registers. That's what we need. We need it. And then Richie can be that man, potentially, can't he now? so um Yeah, i'm umm again, i'm um um I'm excited and hopeful to see where Richie goes from here. and I just think that from Milan's point of view, you see a performance like this and you think, why didn't they go for him this summer? what you know You went for Forfana, again, another foreign player. um Again, time will tell with Forfana, but ah right now, this performance,
00:09:57
Speaker
people are going to start asking the question why did you sign for whanai instead of ritchie yeah but that would be too that would be a little bit too reactionary wouldn't it it would be yeah it would be i'm only posing the question i'm not i'm not i'm not i'm not saying it i'm not saying that's what i believe i'm just raising that question that's all But i hope um i hope I hope that it's right, because if it's right, it means that Richie goes on to to to have a great career and and and become a you know mainstay of Italy and join a bigger club, than then and yeah, I absolutely hope that.