While Sampdoria’s 3–0 defeat to Lazio in the wake of Manolo Gabbiadini’s exit to Napoli raised fears that the Blucerchiati are destined to plummet down the standings in the second half of the season, it was ironic that a narrow victory over Empoli six days later gave a bigger indication of how significant his absence might actually be.
Although Empoli set-up to defend a point and simply surrendered possession to Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men, the distinct lack of creative endeavour in open play nearly had Sampdoria lamenting a performance that should have ended with a far wider margin of victory.
Despite mounting a challenge for a Champions League berth, goals have been in relatively short supply at the Luigi Ferraris and losing the 23-year-old Gabbiadini who directly contributed to a third of the 23 scored this term — seven goals and two assists — will hurt.
In other circumstances the €13m recouped for Gabbiadini would soften the blow of losing such an influential player, however, with Joaquin Correa arriving from Estudiantes for €8m and the protracted €12m acquisition of Udinese striker Luis Muriel, the pressure is on to succeed at the Marassi.
At 20-years-old and in unfamiliar surroundings Argentine Correa will not be expected to make an immediate impact and hopefully given time to develop in Italy, whereas Muriel would be expected to replace the goals of the departed Gabbiadini.
However, despite links in recent years with the English Premier League, Muriel has become something of an enigma in Udine with former coach Francesco Guidolin citing his poor physical condition as the reason why he spent so much time on the substitutes bench at the Stadio Friuli.
While Mihajlovic certainly acknowledges the 23-year-old’s problems — often seen to be overweight — he clearly feels that he can bring his undoubted promise to the fore with Sampdoria.
“He was the only player I really wanted,” the Serbian told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“He did so well at Lecce, then has lost himself in the last few years [at Udinese], which was partly his own fault, but here he will find his motivation again.”
With ‘direct running’ easily the best way to describe the South American’s approach it will be down to Roberto Soriano and Eder to supply him early so there is space to exploit his pace.
Although fellow striker Stefano Okaka has the attributes to make similar runs, the Italian often prefers to exploit his physicality and the closer that work is done to the opposition area and more it could limit the space for Muriel to be effective.
Whether Muriel’s arrives at all, it will be whether his finishing turns out to be good enough or not that remains a potential problem. After all, last term he netted just four times in 24 Serie A appearances.
Should he recover his richer scoring form, Sampdoria could well be celebrating a return to Europe’s premier club competition for the first time in over two decades, as Gabbiadini watches on from Naples; if not it will be more mid-table mediocrity for the men from Genoa.
Follow Kevin Pogorzelski on Twitter: @rabbitrabbiton
