Giuseppe Rossi Profile: La Liga ‘Loca’ over ex-Manchester United striker
They called him “Joe Red” during his time at Manchester United. Villareal still have to come up with a nickname for the young Italian, but Giuseppe Rossi just can’t stop scoring in La Liga: the ex-Red Devil striker produced yet another tally this week-end. And what a goal that was.
The Yellow Submarines were travelling to Pamplona for a difficult game against Osasuna Sunday. With the score still tied on 0-0, here’s what the New Jersey native pulled out of his bag of tricks: grabbing the ball close to the midfield line on the right, Rossi made a diagonal run towards the left, accelerating forward with an enormous burst of pace. The two nearby Osasuna defenders never even got close to him, and when they did it was too late: Rossi had gotten to the edge of the box, unleashing a powerful yet accurate low shot into the bottom right corner. Surely one of the best goals of the week-end.
Unfortunately for Rossi’s team, Villareal conceded the equalizer under a minute later, and eventually ended up losing the game 3-2. The Yellow Submarines are now 3rd in the Liga standings 4 points behind leaders Real Madrid, and owe a large part of their current match form to the Italian striker. Rossi is currently tied for 2nd (with Sergio Aguëro) in the Pichichi standings with 5 goals in 7 Liga matches, within 1 goal’s reach of current topscorer Lionel Messi.
The Spanish press can’t stop singing the young Italian’s praises, tagging him as one of the best surprises of the season debut: described as a calm and reserved person outside the pitch, Rossi’s near lethal accuracy near the 18 yard box is often appreciated in conjunction with his playing style, his commitment to the team effort, and his technical ability. “We are standing in front of one of the league’s great stars” titled Marca, while As wrote “He passed by so quickly that the opposing team didn’t know which Rossi it was, Valentino or Giuseppe“.
Much like what you’d expect from a shy & reserved person, Rossi isn’t easily enthused by his recent excellent performances, and is just keen on continuing the good work. In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport the young Italian striker briefly talked about his role in Azzurrini squad (Italy’s Under 21) and the possibility at getting a call-up from Donadoni. “My main goal is to try my hardest and attempt to score, I try to not to think about the rest. The Azzurri squad is a dream for me at the moment, I must remain with my feet on the ground and continue to work hard. (…) I met Donadoni in the Netherlands, while I was practicing with the Under 21 squad, I haven’t seen him since then. I don’t know if it’s too soon to receive a phone call from him, but I’m not worried”.
Last week, in an El País interview Rossi was asked “Did Donadoni give you a call?”. To which the youngster replied “No, I play for the Under 21″. If Rossi keeps his current match form, that fact could change in a very near future.
A question for Manchester United fans: what’s your opinion of Giuseppe Rossi? Do you wish he was still playing at Old Trafford, or was he too young & inexperienced to be given a starting role with United? In light of his excellent recent matches with Villareal, did Ferguson make a mistake in selling him?
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A short Giuseppe Rossi biography
Giuseppe Rossi was born in 1987 in Teaneck, New Jersey from Italian immigrants. When offered a spot on the youth team of Parma, Rossi and his family moved to Italy until Manchester United bought him in the Summer of 2004, while he was still 17. Earning a weekly salary of £200,000, Rossi enjoyed prolific form in the Youth and Reserve teams but had limited chances with the senior side, although he always impressed whenever he made an appearance in cup games.
His first goal in the English Premiership came on October 15, 2005, on his league debut vs. Sunderland. The match ended 3-1 for the Red Devils, and finally openly revealed the young Italian’s talent to the media. Rossi scored again against Barnet FC in the League Cup (October 26, 2005) and got a double against Burton Albion FC in the FA Cup (January 18, 2006), earning a man-of-the-match award for his performance. Rossi spent the majority of his 2005-06 season playing games with the Reserve team, but managed to score 26 goals in 26 matches when called into action.
Sir Alex Ferguson said about him “Even though he may not be a very physical player, he’s very strong in the box and aerial play. He’s got short but incredibly fast steps, he’s tactically very smart and scores“. After renewing his 2-year contract with the Red Devils until 2010, Rossi declared he “was very happy to have extended the relationship between himself and the best team in the world.”
At the start of the 2006-07 season, Rossi moved to Newcastle United F.C. on loan for 4 months, where he was expected to gain some first team experience. He made his home debut on September 24, 2006 impressing all, showing his quick feet with a barrage of snap shots. Rossi scored his one and only Newcastle goal on his first start on October 25, 2006 against Portsmouth F.C. in a Carling Cup 3rd Round tie at St. James’ Park.
For the second half of the season he was again loaned out, this time to his former club, Parma, in a far more successful move. Scoring 9 goals in 19 league appearances, he helped the club escape the threat of relegation and confirmed many of the qualities that had originally caught the attention of Red Devils scouts. Because of this, and his desire to play regularly, Rossi was linked to a host of clubs in Italy and Europe.
On July 31, 2007, despite the youngster’s desire to stay at Old Trafford, Manchester United confirmed Rossi had been sold to Spanish club Villarreal for an undisclosed fee, reportedly around £6.0m. However, a clause was added to Rossi’s Villarreal contract that allows Manchester United to repurchase him at a later date.
Rossi scored his debut goal for Villarreal in the first week of La Liga on August 26, 2007.
Thanks to the English and Italian Wikipedia articles on Giuseppe Rossi for the biography info. Hat Tip to Gazzetta dello Sport for the article.
Marco Pantanella writes on the mCalcio blog
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Selling him was a big bad mistake!
Beautiful goal.
Do Man Utd fans (after the weekend performance) still think that Rossi should be resigned? Football fans are a fickle bunch and I bet there are those who now reckon that your strikers are going to fire and that you’ve got no problem. My two cents is that Rossi should never have been let go, and that Saha should have been sold instead (I like the Frenchman, but his fitness problems mean that he is not a massive asset to the club, unlike Rossi whose finishing is so superb).
Wholeheartedly agree with you there, Hugo. Rossi is maybe a little lightweight (coincidentally, so are Aguero and Messi), but a fantastic finisher and the natural successor for Solskjaer.
Unbelievable we let him go for 6 million - considering that was how much Pompey paid for Nugent.
It was simply shocking for me to read that he had been sold!! it is n probably will be the biggest mistakes fergie would ever have made!! unless the rumours of the buy back clause is true! i so hope we have one on him!!
Dear Marco Pantanella.
Thanks for nothing!!!
I had a great weekend and was still floating on a high over the ManU result, and then you had to write an article about Rossi
SAF made good signings over the transfer period, but made a MASSIVE mistake by letting Rossi go. If he really needed the money, I agree, he should have let Saha go and NOT Rossi. I suppose if he knew earlier about Solksjaer’s retirement, he would have put up a decent fight to convince Rossi to stay. For all the love and respect I have for SAF, I hope he rot for this one (unless of course he manage to get Rossi back via the ‘buy-back’ clause).
Should SAF manage this, he will go down as a genius.
Funny how football fans are hey?
A midget frontline of Tevez/Rossi, or Rooney/Rossi or Tevez/Rooney/Rossi may not always work against the very top European sides.
If United are to have buy another centre forward in the near future he should be more like Huntelaar in terms of size and height. At least one of United’s strikers should have both strength and height. Look at the havoc Drogba causes in opposition ranks.
Two or three years down the line - who knows? Perhaps the case for re-purchasing Rossi will then become too strong to ignore.
Fergie please just exercise the dam clause!we need this type of a natural finisher who will score 9 out of 10.
Hmm Im sceptical about this clause. I think it is mostly likely it is a first option clause IF Villereal decide to sell. But that could well be a few years down the line and at an inflated price.
And besides from what I gather it was Rossi’s decision to leave as he clearly felt that with Tevez, Rooney, Saha all ahead of him in the pecking order he wouldn’t get the regular games he needed for his development.
Perhaps if Ferguson had got rid of Saha (which he might have done if Saha had stayed fit over the summer) then he could have persuaded Rossi to stay as the third striker. But he didn’t, and a fit Saha is still better than Rossi.
Like Frankie says while we need a natural finisher it would be best if he was of a slightly different mould than Tevez and Rooney.
Frankie, sorry to disappoint you, but Huntelaar is really weak. Yes he is tall, but not strong. That has been his biggest problem and part of the reason he failed to convince at PSV. Also why would a midget forntline not work? The aerial threat is there at set pieces and beutiful goals are rarely scored with the head. The speed/skill that a trio of Tevez, Ronney and Rossi would provide will send the AC Milan+Barcelona defence in abyss. Add to that the style of play of Ronaldo and Nani (the 1 for the future) who prefer to run with the ball diagoinally rather than cross and you have a perfect combination. With the quality we would have up front we will not even need a goalkeeper :d
As for the buy-back clause, I think SAF know what he has done. He has - methinks and mehopes - sent Rossi on a loan, but a slightly extended loan. I think that Rossi will be there for at least two seasons before returning but he WILL return if he proves to be good enough (which should not be a problem the way he is playing right now:))
NB. Marco, are you sure that was a 200,000 quid per week salary? That would have been enough to feed two Gerrards at that time.
Contrary to what most people think, selling Rossi to Villarreal was a sort of a masterstroke by Sir Alex. Lets look at it in 3 ways.
(1) Rossi wasn’t gonna start. (except for the 1st 3 games when Rooney, Saha, Solskjaer were injured) We would have delayed the boy’s develeopment for another year, wasting his talent.
(2) The boy is suited to play in the La Liga due to his size and technical ability. Unlike Nani or Anderson both of whom looks likely to grow in size and physique, Rossi is a little too lightweight.
(3) Rossi lacks genuine pace. Although Tevez lacks genuine pace too but everyone can see that Tevez is indeed a world-class talent waiting to be nurtured. Rossi’s lack of pace makes him solely a predator similar to the current Michael Owen.
One bad point I can see that is that of the clause inserted by Sir Alex. Without the clause I suppose we could have sold him for a higher price. In the current situation Utd is in, we need to pay the mortgage (thanks to those red-hair Glazers) Yes one could argue that the clause allows us to buy back Rossi if he succeeds. But that would undermine the gaffer’s authority and judgment since if Rossi is that good, he can just simply be loaned out instead of sold.
This is just my honest opinion. However I wish Rossi well. Seems La Liga is the best place for short small men to thrive! Messi! Aguero! Rossi! Zigic! Maybe not.
i think he meant 2k.
Andrei, Rossi isn’t good enough. Good enough to play for a top 6th club but not for Man Utd.
I’m not at all worried. They have a buy back clause in his contract, with a price fixed in all probability. The price wont be too high because he was not considered so good when signed. I think rational thinking will get to Alex in a couple of years and resign him. Ship off Dong Campbell Saha and the rest of the clutter, resign Rossi on the cheap and splash the cash on a good big target man. Too much wishful thinking ?
Andrei, since Huntelaar’s “really weak” days at PSV for whom incidentally he made only one senior appearance in 2 years (most of which was spent out on loan), he seems to have done pretty well since in the Eredivisie with 34 goals in 46 appearances for SC Heerenveen, 46 in 55 for Ajax, international for the Dutch under 21 side, with 18 goals in 22 appearances. Just because a player at the age of 19 or 20 wasn’t considered strong by whoever (you fail to identify who) doesn’t mean that he is not “strong” at 24. Don’t confuse a thin frame with a lack of strength. What’s the evidence that Huntelaar “lacks strength” in 2007?
Also, I did not say that a midget frontline “wouldn’t work” as you suggest. I said that it “might not always work” against the “very top” European sides. The key word is “always”. I stand by that. It is important to have variety in attack. If playing the ball to feet with small strikers doesn’t work or is not working in a particular game, United should have the option of a tall athletic player down the middle. We know that is Fergie’s preference, and it makes sense.
Ideally, my preference would also be for a tall, strong centre forward at United with blistering pace like a Saha (when fit) or an Anelka or an Eto’o, with the ability to play on the shoulder on the last defender and outpace them for balls played over the top. Whether Huntelaar posseses the raw speed of a Saha, Anelka, or Eto’o I simply don’t know. I think that is the more relevant question mark against Huntelaar.
Rossi doesn’t have the pace or height to provide United with the option they need right now. The best way to look at the Rossi sale to Villareal is as an extended loan giving United the option to either have him back or leave him at Villareal. It was a good deal for Rossi; and a good deal for United. Everyone’s a winner!
We sold him for 6mil, how much is the buy-back clause?
I think there is a mistake… I cannot believe that Rossi at 17 would be paid 200,000 pounds per week! Isn’t that more than Ballack and Ronaldo? I makes more sense if it was 20,000 pounds per week, considering that he was a good youth player…
Otherwise nice article — do I wish we buy him back!
Dear oh dear… as I was writing, and then later as I proofread the article, I cannot believe I didn’t pick up on that mistake.
The correction is the following: Rossi was signed from the Parma youth team for £200,000, that is, the 200k was the transfer fee. Sorry about that everyone.
No mention of the Man Utd salary in the Wikipedia article, but if someone can dig that up I’d be grateful.
I dont think a strike force comprising of 3 midgets..ie roon,tev and rossi would ofer much variety,what we clearly lack this season is a focal point in attack and something still needs to be done about it.but rossi was the best thing to come through the youth academy since the class of 92,letting him go was very dissapointing,but one feels he would realise his talent only away from old trafford,where he would have been behind tev and roon..in the pecking order..i wish him well nevertheless..
I dont think a strike force comprising of 3 midgets..ie roon,tev and rossi would offer much variety,what we clearly lack this season is a focal point in attack and something still needs to be done about it.but rossi was the best thing to come through the youth academy since the class of 92,letting him go was very dissappointing,but one feels he would realise his talent only away from old trafford,where he would have been behind tev and roon..in the pecking order..i wish him well nevertheless..
yea il never forget the day we sold GIU. The boy is gold- always has been. took me bout a week to get over the loss.
As far as im concerned (as were seing now) the boy had matured perfectly n was waitn to explode all over the premiership. if u beleive the press he wanted to leave to get games but im not convinced of this.(IF TRUE HOWEVER-fair play to him!) His goals 4 the under 21s in the summer were immence. Only thing that helped ease the blow was reports sayin we had 1st dibs on him were he to leave villareal….2 b honest i have the feeling
heel return to old trafford one day. All i know is that the UTD squad would be a hell of a lot healthier with young rossi involved
As we’re talking about the dutch league a bit - did anyone see Alfonso Alves’ SEVEN goals at the weekend?!
I believe that SAF should have sold Saha over the summer, since he is far to injury prone to be of any use over the whole season and signed Anelka as a replacement, who is faster, technically better and also better suited for MU’s style of play. Guiseppe Rossi should have just been sent on loan and they should have forgotten about this incomprehensible buy-back clause. I mean why sell him if you want to buy him back 2 years later when his price will have increased, whereas if they loan him out, they can either sell him after the loan and earn a bit more than the meagre 6 million they received for him and if they want him back they just bring him back at the end of the loan. If they buy him back in 2 years or so his value will have increased quite a lot and they will definately have lost money on the 6 million they received.
no doubt it was a bit of a loss to united but it seems he had bigger dreams somewhere else….
I agree with everyone who says it was a huge mistake to sell this kid!…man I bet the US national team is looking at him right now, too bad for them that he has mentioned he wants to play for Italy!
Hugo - got a vid link? maybe you can do a short post on it today
If I’m not mistaken, then the buy-back is something like £11-12m.
Why are people so concerend about ‘midget-strikeforce’ (if we have Rossi). It’s very easy (and cheap) to remedy (and ad variety). Just buy a Crouch, or a Jan V.v.Hesselink to add variety.
Of course the US have been well aware of Joe Red. Go to http://www.bigsoccer.com, and you’ll see chapter and verse about him, dating back to three or four years!
A few people within USSF have attempted to contact him and offer him a spot, with little to no success. [Former US gaffer Bruce Arena, current U-20 manager Thomas Rongen, current US manager and fellow New Jersey native Bob Bradley, former high school team mate/US U-20 midfielder Danny Szetela, and others have tried contacting him.]
Giuseppe has been brainwashed by his father into wanting to play for the Azzuri rather than the nation of his birth. Now, Rossi may be akin to Mauro Camaurenesi(sp.) in that he’s Italian by technicality. But unlike the Argie-turned-Azzuri, Rossi hasn’t played very much in Italia, save for the end of last season.
The fact is that the current World Cup Champions’ have a history of rarely including players that aren’t in Seria A. In particular, young, unestablished players that have yet to feature for Italy. For this reason, many in the States believe that he’d have a better chance in the US setup than with the Azzuri. Given the sorry state of the forwards in the US team, I’m inclined to agree.
For my part, I wish Joe Red the best, no matter what colors he chooses to defend. [Had I any ability, I could have represented the Irish, but alas I have toblerone feet.]
Certainly, I’d prefer that he’d play for the nation of his birth and my birth. But I for one will follow his career with interest, as he’s likely the best player ever to learn the game here in the US.
Ahmed - I’ve already done the post. Just waiting for someone (new editor?) to put it up.
IMO it was a mistake but if the buy-back clause is 11m then it may be a good move, he gets experience in La Liga against the big teams and then comes back and destroys defenses in the prem. Would anyone say no to Messi just because he’s small?
No, no regrets about Rossi leaving. Ferguson saw this kid in training for four years. Although the manager has made mistakes in the transfer market when signing players before, I can’t think of too many who have been let go and gone on to great things. If Fergie thought he wasn’t going to be a United great then I trust his judgement. He was to small to be anything other than a penalty box player in the Premiership, and his scoring record isn’t exactly phenomenal.
Joe, what Americans seem to fail to understand is that if Rossi keeps up his current form, it’s almost guaranteed he’ll snatch a place with the Azzurri senior team at some point.
Frankly it’s not about brainwashing anything, it’s about choosing the most competitive team between USA and Italy… given he has the choice, and that he probably feels Italian just as much as he feels American, why on earth would he choose to play for the USA?
As for your comment that Italy have a history of rarely including players that aren’t in Seria A, that may be true but there are notable exceptions, and over the last few years the Azzurri have exported themselves so much that all you really need to be called up is play in a competitive team. Want some examples?
Fabio Grosso (Lyon)
Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona)
Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid)
Cristiano Lucarelli (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Luca Toni (Bayern Munich)
And that’s not even counting those that made a regular appearance in past years (such as Flavio Roma at AS Monaco).
I mean Christ, if Donadoni is getting guys who are playing in the Ukraine (the UKRAINE!!), surely someone scoring 5 goals in 7 games at Villareal isn’t going to be a big stretch.
Sorry, that last comment was meant for Pete (not Joe, I got mixed up with Joe Red :P).
[I Bet Fair]
I agree with you on the fact that SAF saw Rossi every day for 4 years, but disagree with a couple of other things.
“He was to small to be anything other than a penalty box player in the Premiership…”
- Is this the same for Rooney, Tevez, Juninho, Zola…
“…and his scoring record isn’t exactly phenomenal.”
- I personally think it is. The only blemish he had was during his time at Newcastle. (Then again, you can’t score if you don’t play)
I take your point Karl about the size issue, sure Juninho and Zola were the same size as Rossi and flourished (though Rooney and Tevez are much stronger and better equipped to deal with the physical defenders who get away with more in England).
Juninho and Zola played off the front though, wheras Rossi seems to be a striker.
You could compare him to Defoe perhaps in terms of position and size.
Rossi’s scoring record is 0 in 4 Premiership starts, 9 in 19 Serie A starts and 5 in 6 La Liga. 2 in 8 Under 21 games. That’s quite good,but not phenomenal.
Defoe’s scoring record for Spurs in the last 3 and a half seasons is 39 in 84 starts.
Why does it say in his short biography that he earns £200,000 a week?
good point yousaf - will ask Marco
See comment nº19 yousaf.
Rooney-Rossi with Ronaldo and Nani on the wings would be unstoppable.
I think it’s imperative that we buy him back.
Does anybody know what the realistic chances are of him coming back?