With Atalanta coming up short yet again on their travels over the weekend, I decided to opt away from a general round-up of events for my Club Focus article in an attempt to put the result out of my mind. Instead, I plan on allowing the focus of the article to be on Germán Denis and the career path of the Nerazzurri front-man.
The 32-year-old has had an eventful career to date, playing for a total of ten clubs, all based in either Argentina or Italy.
It all started for El Tanque in 1997 for his local side, Talleres de Remedias de Escalada in the Argentine Primera B Metropolitana – the regionalised third division. He notched up 25 goals in his 33 games here and it wasn’t long before he made the step up to a higher level.
Denis had a very brief spell with Buenos Aires based side, Quilmes in 2000. He featured only four times, scoring twice before making the move to Club Atlético Los Andes. Things didn’t exactly go too well for Los Andes as the club and Denis found themselves being relegated in his first season at the club.
Denis began the following season in the Primera B Nacional with Los Andes. Having been impressed by his 18 goals in 28 appearances, Serie B side Cesena came knocking and allowed the young forward to set off to begin his Italian adventure. Los Andes would not be Denis’ last stop in his home nation.
His time at his first club in Italy was far from a success. He struggled to make any sort of impression with the Cavallucci Marini and managed to find the net only three times in his 29 games, with this record he found himself returning to South America after failing his first European test.
The year 2003 marked the start of a positive relationship for Denis, as he worked with then Arsenal de Sarandi manager Jorge Burrachaga for the first time in Argentina’s Primera Division. He spent two seasons with Arsenal scoring 13 times in 54 games before making the move to Colón.
His time at Colón was brief, lasting just one season and 11 goals before he was presented with the opportunity to rejoin Burrachaga, this time at Independiente in 2006.
It was here that his career took off. In his first 13 games of the Apertura, Denis found the net 15 times. This form gave him recognition from the International side and earned him a call-up to the squad for the first two qualification games for the 2010 World Cup.
His international debut came as a brief substitute against Venezuela in 2007, he has since gone on to make four more appearances for his country. He finished the Apertura season with 18 goals from 19 games and was the leagues top goalscorer. He left Independiente with a record of 37 goals in 70 appearances for the club.
Next up for El Tanque was a return to Italy in 2008, this time a big money move in the form of a €7.5 million transfer to Napoli. His time here started reasonably well. In October he scored his first career hat-trick as the Partenopei came out with a 3-0 win over Reggina.
The departure of coach Edoardo Reja proved to be a key moment in his time at Napoli. Roberto Donadoni took the position and things never really worked for Denis with the new coach opting for the South American duo of Uruguayan Marcelo Zalayeta and Denis’ fellow countryman Ezequiel Lavezzi. Following a fallout with Donadoni, Denis packed his bags and left for Udinese.
His time at Udinese is hardly worth mentioning, as it was uneventful to say the least. In 25 games he only scored four times.
Then came what proved to be a perfect match for Denis. Stefan Colantuono and Atalanta snapped up the forward on what was originally a season long loan. A couple of months into this deal, Colantuono revealed that the move would become permanent at the end or the 2011-12 season. Atalanta faced a huge challenge as Serie A newsboys, having won Serie B the previous season. La Dea started the season with a six-point deficit.
He seemed to thrive under this added pressure, claiming 12 goals in Serie A before the winter break. His second half of the season was considerably quieter, adding only four more goals for the Nerazzurri but his season total of 16 in 33 is an impressive return. He has maintained this standard of near 1 in 2. He has scored 15 in his 33 appearances since then, making it 31 from 66 altogether in Serie A for Atalanta.
Germán Denis has become a cult hero with the La Dea faithful, he seems at home in Bergamo and could well see his career out here. If not, you would expect this will be his last stop in Italy before perhaps returning home for one final time to finish his career in Argentina.
Follow Conor Clancy on Twitter: @concalcio
