Since signing a loan deal with Hull City on Tuesday, Inter’s Andrea Ranocchia has started his Premier League adventure in a manner that few calcio fans could have possibly imagined.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJegeg9ilSM[/youtube]
On Wednesday night, the lanky centre-back came off the bench for the final 20 minutes of the Tigers’ 0-0 draw away to Manchester United.
Quite the feat for a relegation threatened club, but nothing to read too much into given the Italian’s short cameo.
Fast-forward to Saturday and the Yorkshire club faced another sizeable challenge in a visiting Liverpool outfit buoyed by the return of Sadio Mane.
Ranocchia wasn’t scheduled to start however, just 20 minutes before kick-off, was thrown into the first 11 after Michael Dawson suffered an injury in warm-up.
In the opening minutes, it looked as though we were about to see the all-too-familiar error-riddled game that the 28-year-old has become synonymous with, looking shaky at the back and completely mis-hitting an attempted clearance.
Though from that point on, you could be forgiven for thinking this was an imposter wearing the number 13.
Ranocchia played an incredibly solid game at the back, limiting the space of the likes of Philippe Coutinho and quashing Mane’s usually deadly runs.
Under constant pressure for most the match, the Italian stood tall and made an outstanding name for himself in his full Premier League debut.
The former Italy international also had a major hand in seeing off the game by producing a pin-point long-ball from just outside his own box to play Oumar Niasse in on goal. He would finish the match with an assist and a clean-sheet, before being awarded man of the match and named in Garth Crooks’ BBC Team of the Week.
No doubt, there would be some extremely mixed feelings among Inter fans with such a performance.
The frustration as to where that defender has been over the last five years together with the knowledge that a few more matches played at such a standard could finally see the Nerazzurri rid themselves of the centre-back’s services for good – maybe even for a decent return.
Though as with any footballer, in any league around the world, consistency is everything.
The coming weeks are likely to either prove he can actually cut it in the Premier League, or as many Serie A fans would expect, expose the Italian as a fraud.
