Belotti celebrates after scoring a goal. Image: Getty Images
Yes, I said it.
Andrea Belotti is the best striker in the Serie A.
He has scored an impressive tally of fourteen goals, second in the league behind Mauro Icardi, in only 17 appearances.
He is the main reason Torino has been playing the way they have; Belotti’s speed and clinical finishing has proven to be the key to Mihajlovic’s squad.
Scoring just under half of the Granata’s goals, Belotti provides a spark that can’t be found anywhere else in the Serie A.
While you could argue that Higuain or Dybala are more experienced and therefore better, Belotti has proven to be just as clutch in those dying moments, if not even better.
At just twenty-three years of age, Belotti has been linked to numerous clubs; some may be willing to pay the €100 million release clause set on the young Italian.
The interest and speculated fee is just a measure of how talented this young striker is.
His Story
Belotti started out at UC AlbinoLeffe, scoring fourteen goals in thirty-nine appearances for Serie D squad.
He was then loaned out to and later purchased by Palermo, where he performed relatively well, scoring sixteen and assisting seven, albeit one of those seasons in the Serie B.
Just a year later, Belotti was sold again, this time to Torino, for the fee of €8.4 million euros, a fee that Palermo must be regretting now.
He performed well in his first season, scoring twelve and assisting five in thirty-five appearances, a remarkable tally for the youngster, considering he was playing at the top tier.
The Breakout
This year has been different, though.
He started off quickly, scoring a goal against A.C. Milan, a hat-trick in a 5-1 win against Bologna, and a goal and an assist in Torino’s surprise upset of Roma.
These performances earned him a call-up to Gian Piero Ventura’s squad, a squad that has been lacking a reliable striker for some time now, rotating between Simone Zaza, Eder, and Mario Balotelli in recent years.
He began to cool off for a short stretch of games, but he then started to get back on track with the game against Inter.
In this stretch, he scored ten goals and assisted twice in just fourteen games, a remarkable feat for any striker, especially one that is only twenty-three years old.
He is one of the reasons Torino find themselves at eighth place in the league right now, despite a lackluster defense that tends to disappear at crucial moments in the game, such as last week against Milan where they blew a two goal lead.
The Future
What lies in store for the youngster?
Will he continue to dazzle, or will he implode like we’ve seen so many other young stars do?
Let’s hope for the latter.
If this season is any indication of his ability, we’ll be seeing his name for a long, long time.
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