Wilfried Gnonto, The Italian Wonderkid Who Impressed In The Nations League
Roberto Mancini is now focused on the future, and this 18-year-old showed why he could be part of it.
After being defeated by North Macedonia in the World Cup Qualifiers, the Italian National Team are focusing on the future, and they took advantage of the International Break after the end of the season to start doing it. They had the Finalissima and four matches in the Nations League, a tournament that has raised many eyebrows among the protagonists due to its placement on the calendar, and how unnecessary it is for players' fitness after a long season.
But, for Italy is different, they seized from this, and the Italian National Team coach, Roberto Mancini decided to give an opportunity to several young players to start looking at them in matches against some of the most important National Teams in Europe, and in the world, such as Germany, England, and Hungary, all are part of the Group 3 in the League A together with Italy.
One of these young players that got an opportunity was Wilfred “Willy” Gnonto, who formed part of Inter Milan’s academy but never got the chance to make his debut with the first team. The reason for this is that he moved to Switzerland to play with the FC Zurich in 2020. There, he has played 59 matches with the first team so far and in his second season, he won the Swiss Super League.
With 8 goals and 3 assists in the league, Willy’s last season in terms of statistics is not astonishing, especially if we take into account that the Swiss Super League is not one of the top leagues in Europe. But, this didn't stop Roberto Mancini, to named him part of the squad for the upcoming Nations League fixture, and Gnonto didn't disappoint him.
A Player With Many Virtues
Gnonto made his debut on June 4th against Germany in the Renato Dall’Ara Stadium, home of the Serie A side, Bologna FC. He came into the game replacing Napoli’s player, Matteo Politano in the 65th minute. There, he showed his strengths and manage to help the team to open the score, after an “explosive” sprint and a great cross that finished with a goal from Lorenzo Pellegrini.
He showed great speed and a good versatility to play in any of the three positions in front. Mancini did some changes in the match and he was able to show his potential as a winger on the left and right and as a false number 9. Despite not being a big physical striker, with a height of 1.70m, he was of use to his teammates by holding the ball and winning fouls when the team needed to get out of Germany’s pressure.
Maybe, his good performance in these few minutes helped Mancini to decide to give him the opportunity to play as a starter in the next match versus Hungary. He played the entire match that day and left another good impression with his ability in the 1 vs 1 scenario and with his speed. In general terms, he is a player with high positional intelligence, he is always showing himself as an option for his teammates to send long or deep passes.
Someone Who Works For The Team
Despite highlighting his positional intelligence and his cleverly timed runs to the space, Willy Gnonto was very focused when Italy were out of possession and showed commitment when the team needed it. Against Hungary, he showed it, but it was clearer in the next matches, against England and Germany away.
In the first one, he only played 25 minutes, but he went in in a match that had a low rhythm, with England having the ball most of the time but doing no harm to Italy who were consolidated in defense. In this scenario, Gnonto was located as a right-winger and did a good job defending Kieran Trippier, who was playing as a left-back, the player from Newcastle did nothing because Willy was attentive and he made a good effort trying to not leave any space to him. In the same sense, he managed to create a couple of plays that brought danger to Ramsdale in a boring match that (obviously) finished 0–0.
With Germany, the history was different, the National Team of the coach Hansi Flick dominated the entire match, they had over 60% of possession of the ball. In the first half, Gnonto played as a left-winger and his main focus was the right-back, Lukas Klostermann, that had no space since Gnonto was over him most of the time, Germany did a good job with the mobility of Hofmann, Muller, and Gundogan to eradicate this problem.
In the second half, Raspadori was subbed off, and Gnonto played as a false number 9 again, here, with Italy being most of the time out of possession, he showed his virtues as a pivot, winning fouls against the defenders, Süle and Rüdiger, and even got the second one booked, he also tried to be the “first defender of the team”. But, this didn't last enough, because when Gianluca Scamacca went in, he played as the number 9, with Gnonto changing to the right-wing, and from there came his first goal with the Italian National Team, after a shot by Dimarco that was deflected by Neuer and Willy caught the rebound in the other end. It was the only thing to be happy about because Germany went off against Italy with a historic 5–2 win.
The Bottom Line
In the press conference after the first match against Germany, Roberto Mancini tried to protect Wilfried Gnonto by saying that “we must not put pressure on him”. And, it's true, but at the same time, we can't ignore a player that young that showed great attitude when playing against these top National Teams. We will see how his career develops, he is a target of rumors claiming a move to the Bundesliga, if this happens, this will help him to compete in a high-level league and can see him develop into a more complete soccer player.
That being said, have you had the opportunity to watch him in any of these games or with Zurich FC? In any case, what do you think about him? Let me know!
Thank you for reading. Below, I leave you other stories that I have written, feel free to check them out:
