Franco Vázquez

Franco Vázquez

Vázquez playing with Italy in 2015
Personal information
Full name Franco Damián Vázquez
Date of birth (1989-02-22) 22 February 1989[1]
Place of birth Tanti, Córdoba, Argentina
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Palermo
Number 20
Youth career
2003–2005 Barrio Parque
2005–2007 Belgrano
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2007–2011 Belgrano 95 (15)
2012– Palermo 103 (21)
2012–2013 → Rayo Vallecano (loan) 18 (3)
National team‡
2015– Italy 2 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:44, 1 May 2016 (UTC).
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16 June 2015

Franco Damián Vázquez (born 22 February 1989) is an Italian footballer, born and raised in Argentina, who plays as an attacking midfielder for Palermo and the Italian national team.

Early life

Vázquez was born to an Italian mother (born in Padova[2]) and an Argentine father.[3] Therefore, Vázquez holds both passports.

Club career

Belgrano

Nicknamed El Mudo (The Mute), Vázquez started his career at Belgrano, with whom he debuted in 2007 and then became a mainstay at the club, achieving interest from a number of Italian clubs (the first being Parma in 2010) as a consequence.[1]

Palermo

In August 2011 he was heavily linked with a move to Palermo as a replacement for fellow Argentine Javier Pastore; the move, effective from January 2012, was subsequently confirmed on 1 September 2011 with a bid of €4.53m being paid by the Sicilians as a result.[4] He officially joined the Sicilians' squad on 29 December 2011.[5] He debuted in Palermo on 8 January against Napoli, and made a total 14 appearances with no goals (mostly as a substitute).

Rayo Vallecano (loan)

On 24 August 2012 he moved on loan to La Liga club Rayo Vallecano.[6] He mostly played as a substitute, and failed to make a breakthrough in the first team squad, not being signed permanently by the club at the end of the season and therefore returning to Palermo.

Return to Palermo

He was originally kept out of the squad list by head coach Gennaro Gattuso and therefore ineligible to play in any games for the first half of the 2013–14 Serie B season, but reincluded into the first team roster by new boss Giuseppe Iachini later in January 2014 as a replacement to on-loan youngster Valerio Verre, and then being used also as a second striker in a more regular basis - a role that gave him the opportunity to score goals for the team. In the following 2014–15 Serie A campaign, Vázquez gained notoriety thanks to him forming successful and effective striking partnership with Paulo Dybala. On 16 January 2015, he agreed a contract extension with Palermo until 30 June 2019.[7]

International career

Having Italian citizenship sparked the Italian national team's interest since Vázquez had never played at international level, but the player was still uncertain about whether to accept the possible upcoming call or not.[8] Later in January 2015, he stated he would probably accept a call-up from Italian head coach Antonio Conte, also due to the heavy competition for a place in the Argentine team.[9]

On 21 March 2015, Vázquez received his first Italian national team call-up for a European 2016 qualification game against Bulgaria and a friendly match against England.[10] Manager Antonio Conte was criticised for calling up Argentine-born Vázquez along with Brazilian-born Éder. Speaking at a Serie A meeting on 23 March 2015, Roberto Mancini said, "The Italian national team should be Italian. An Italian player deserves to play for the national team while someone who wasn't born in Italy, even if they have relatives, I don't think they deserve to." Conte's response to the use of foreign-born players was, "If Mauro Camoranesi [who was born in Argentina] was allowed to help Italy win the 2006 World Cup, then why can't Éder and Franco Vázquez lead the Azzurri to glory in next year's European Championship?"[11][12]

Vázquez made his debut in the 1–1 draw against England at Juventus Stadium in Turin on 31 March 2015, replacing fellow oriundo Éder after 61 minutes.[13]

Style of play

Vázquez is a quick, talented, and mobile left-footed player, who possesses good vision, passing ability, and technique,[14][15] which makes an effective assist provider;[16][17][18] during the 2014–15 Serie A season, he was one of the top assist providers in the league with 10 assists.[19] In addition to his creative abilities, he is also capable of contributing to his team with goals, due to his accurate striking ability from distance.[17][20] A versatile player, he is usually deployed as an attacking midfielder,[21] although he has also been deployed in several other offensive and midfield positions:[22] he has been used as a winger, as a deep-lying playmaker, and as a second forward.[23] His playing style has drawn comparisons with Javier Pastore,[24] Alessandro Del Piero,[25] and Roberto Baggio.[16]

Honours

Palermo

Individual

References

  1. 1 2 "Franco Vázquez : 1989 - Argentina" (in Italian). Generazione di Talenti. August 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  2. ↑ "Palermo, Vazquez apre alla Nazionale: "Mia mamma è di Padova..."". Gazzetta.
  3. ↑ Dorrington, Nick (30 March 2015). "Vazquez could use Italy call-up to prove success isn't limited to Palermo". ESPN. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  4. ↑ "UN PALERMO CHE INVESTE" [A PALERMO THAT INVESTS] (in Italian). ilpalermocalcio.it. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  5. ↑ "VAZQUEZ A PALERMO "FELICE DI ESSERE QUI"" [VAZQUEZ IN PALERMO "HAPPY TO BE HERE"] (in Italian). ilpalermocalcio.it. 29 December 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  6. ↑ "VAZQUEZ AL RAYO VALLECANO" [VAZQUEZ TO RAYO VALLECANO] (in Italian). US Città di Palermo. 27 August 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  7. ↑ ""MUDO", LA STORIA CONTINUA. VAZQUEZ ROSANERO FINO AL 2019" ["MUDO", HISTORY GOES ON. VAZQUEZ TO STAY ROSANERO TILL 2019] (in Italian). US Città di Palermo. 18 January 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "Serie A Palermo, Vazquez: "Giocare per l'Italia? Decisione difficile"" [Serie A Palermo, Vázquez: "Playing for Italy? Tough decision"] (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Le promesse di Franco Vazquez: "Rimango a Palermo e accetto di giocare per l'Italia"" [The promises of Franco Vázquez: "I'm staying at Palermo and I accept playing for Italy"] (in Italian). Giornale di Sicilia. 18 January 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  10. ↑ "Nazionale, Conte chiama Eder, Vazquez e Valdifiori per Bulgaria e Inghilterra" [National team, Conte calls up Éder, Vázquez and Valdifiori for Bulgaria and England] (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 21 March 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  11. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3007660/Roberto-Mancini-believes-foreign-born-players-NOT-able-play-Italy.html
  12. ↑ http://www.espnfc.us/italy/story/2363437/antonio-conte-defends-use-of-foreign-born-players-on-italy-squad
  13. ↑ "Italy 1-1 England". BBC Sport. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  14. ↑ "Belotti: “Vazquez ha una tecnica sopraffina. Dybala? Ha trovato la giusta serenità”" (in Italian). Media Gol. 20 December 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  15. ↑ Fabio Riva (17 February 2015). "Calciomercato, Juventus, sotto osservazione Franco Vazquez del Palermo" (in Italian). Tutto Sport. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  16. 1 2 "Zamparini: ‘Vazquez like Baggio’". Football Italia. 8 September 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  17. 1 2 "Palermo – Torino è anche Vazquez contro El Kaddouri: al Barbera è di casa la fantasia" (in Italian). Toro News. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  18. ↑ "Live, Rigoni: “Franco Vazquez, che assist hai fatto?! Palermo, continuiamo così e portiamo via i tre punti all’Udinese”" (in Italian). Media Gol. 30 August 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  19. 1 2 "Italian Serie A Statistics: Top Assists - 2014–15 Season". ESPN FC. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  20. ↑ Roberto Pinna (17 February 2015). "Fantacalcio, da Vazquez a Pogba e Vidal. Gli specialisti da fuori area" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  21. ↑ Marco Gori (12 December 2010). "Sampdoria, occhi su Vazquez" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  22. ↑ Simone Negri (13 February 2014). "Vazquez, il jolly del Palermo: "Il nuovo ruolo mi piace"" (in Italian). Palermo Calcio. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  23. ↑ Francesco Cammuca (28 September 2011). "VAZQUEZ, dove inserirlo?" (in Italian). Palermo 24. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  24. ↑ "Genoa e Napoli: Lotta per Franco Vazquez" (in Italian). Calcio Mercato. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  25. ↑ "Iachini: 'Tra Tevez e Dybala scelgo il secondo. Vazquez come Baggio e Del Piero'" (in Italian). Calcio Mercato. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  26. ↑ "Palermo's Smiling Assassin Pablo Dybala Smiling All The Way To Superstardom". Retrieved 16 February 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, May 01, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.