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Extended Clip - Who Is Tommaso Baldanzi? Empoli’s Italian Paulo Dybala’ image

Extended Clip - Who Is Tommaso Baldanzi? Empoli’s Italian Paulo Dybala’

The Italian Football Podcast
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After a breakout season which has Tommaso Baldanzi linked with Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan, Nima Tavallaey and Carlo Garganese do a profile deep-dive on who 'Empoli's Italian Dybala' is.

This is a clip from the weekly Thursday episode of the Italian Football Podcast.

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Transcript

Who is Tommaso Baldanzi?

00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast. We're going to do a little profile as we do now and again. Tommaso Baldanti, who is the 20-year-old trecourtista that plays for Empoli, number 10 of Empoli. And yeah, he's a player that I really, really like. I think he's got a really, really bright future ahead of him. As I said, he's a number 10. He plays behind the front two, because Empoli play at 4-3-1-2 mainly.
00:00:31
Speaker
And he's really, really short, I think it's five foot six, five foot seven, but he's lovely ball control, skillful, creative, really, really fantastic left foot. Really, really good at kind of like finding space in between the lines, like in the half spaces, his passing and progressive passes here, like very ambitious pass, like among the top, top ranked players for these things in in Serie A in terms of like accuracy.

Baldanzi's Inspirations and Early Career

00:00:57
Speaker
He's got four goals in 16 games this season. He's said that his idol is Palla Di Bala. You can kind of see some likeness there in terms of the way he moves and the little movements and maneuvers he does. You can see a little bit of Di Bala, although not for one second saying it.
00:01:17
Speaker
He's as good as Paolo Dibala was when he burst onto the scene, but there's certainly some likeness there. He made his under 21 debut over the last week and played very well actually in a win against Serbia. He went close to scoring a few times and he's played in all the youth groups for Italy. I think he's a very very promising player, very very good technically and I think he's definitely destined for a bigger club. Are you a fan of this player?
00:01:43
Speaker
I really am. I, you know, let's start with, you know, he's from, he was born in Poggi Bonsi, which is a provincia, it's in provincia di Siena on March 23rd, 2003. He joined Castel Fiorentino, a local club at the age of six. And of course, Castel Fiorentino are known for being Luciano Spaletti's first club as a player. At age eight, he joined Empoli's Youth Academy and he's been with them ever since.
00:02:08
Speaker
He's ambidextrous. He can play as a number 10, but he's also played as a left-winger. People have drawn comparisons to Jovinco and Papo Gomez, also because of how short he is. He's five foot seven or 170 centimeters.
00:02:25
Speaker
But he's been public, like you said, about being idolizing Paolo Di Bala. He

Achievements and Career Milestones

00:02:30
Speaker
won the Under-19 Championships with Empoli in 2019. He made his senior or first team debut in the Copa Italia on October 28, 2020 at 17 against Benevento, getting an assist for the 4-2 goal. The same season, he helped Empoli win the Primavera Championship, which is the youth team championship, and he was named the MVP of that competition.
00:02:54
Speaker
He made his Serie A debut on May 22nd. He replaced Coltrone, of all people.
00:02:59
Speaker
in a 1-0 win over Atalanta. He scored his first Serie A goal against Hellas on 2022, because when Paolo Zanetti took over, he's been a mainstay ahead of the season. He's been a mainstay in the Empoli lineup. And

Future Prospects and Potential Moves

00:03:20
Speaker
of course, he recently signed a contract extension which keeps him at Empoli until 2027. This is a guy who's
00:03:28
Speaker
pure Empoli product through and through. He's from Tuscany, he's from that area. I absolutely think that this is a player that I would love to see play for one of the three big clubs. I think Vicario, Parisi and Baldansi, Ricci, Aslani,
00:03:49
Speaker
you know, these players that they've brought up, they are quality players. And I would love, love to see him at Inter, you know, or a Juve or a Milan. I think he would not be out of place in any of those clubs. And they're all interested in him as well. But I think he'll probably stay for another year. But I do know that Inter are very, very interested in him.
00:04:16
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think he will stay. I think it's good for him to stay as well. He needs another year. He's only played 16 games this season. 16 starts rather. And I think Vicario will definitely leave. And Paddy Z, I think, will leave as well. And they'll join big clubs, big Serie A clubs this summer. I'm sure of that.

Baldanzi's Playing Style and Role

00:04:33
Speaker
I mean, I know you say he's played as a left-winger. I don't remember him playing as a left-winger. He is ambidextrous. Let's remember that. He's good with both of his feet and he's good at dribbling. And I've seen him play as a left-winger at times. When he was younger, he's done that especially.
00:04:53
Speaker
I don't know how good he was as a left-winger. I can't. Well, he was named primavera player of the, you know, the MVP of the primavera. So, I mean, you know, he played in both. That's the thing. And that's when he was named the MVP. But of course, his first position is to play more centrally behind strikers.
00:05:14
Speaker
Oh yeah. From what I've seen of him, you know, I want to see if he can play in that. I hope you can, that he can be a success in that position because that's my only concern with him is that the number 10 position, we know in modern football, it's a bit of a dead role. Yeah. Dead role. No one plays really. So either he play, I mean, no one plays from the top teams are not going to play four, three, one, two. Okay. And playing it, that's fine. Top teams are not going to play that formation. And, you know, four, two, three, one.
00:05:46
Speaker
Napoli liked, so there's been talk of Napoli as well. But I do agree with you. I think his position is, I think I'd love to see him as a Metzala. I think that's where I would love to see him. I'd love to see him more in a deeper role. I think he would do really, really well. And also because of his dribbling, he is a good dribbler. He's very technical. I really like this pair. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.