Federico Balzaretti recently celebrated his 34th birthday, Oscar La-Gambina looks back at his chequered career.
With a promising career riddled with unlucky moments, Federico Balzaretti was one of the best defenders to play in the Italian top-flight.
Problems with club finance, coupled with his own physical issues, however, unfortunately meant he could never unleash his true potential.
It all started when he was just six-years-old, joining various youth sides in his hometown of Turin and quickly becoming a prominent member of them.
His athleticism only added to the huge potential that critics heaped on his shoulders, after a couple of loan spells out to Varese and Siena, the Italian left-back made his debut for Torino.
Due to his commitment from an early age for them and the fact he was born in the city, fans of the Granata soon warmed to his presence and he always went to greet the home Curva at the end of matches to show his gratitude.
In one of their break-through seasons, the 2004/05 Serie A campaign, Balzaretti was one of the most important players in the squad and his position on the field was invaluable.
Thanks to efforts from him and the rest of the squad, Il Toro re-gained promotion to the top league on the peninsula, but problems off the pitch overshadowed this success.
Just one year off their 100-year anniversary since being founded in 1906, Torino were declared bankrupt on August 9 2005 and no longer existed.
This forced the squad to find playing time elsewhere, although Balzaretti’s eventual destination was never going to please the Granata faithful.
Six days after Torino’s bankruptcy, cross-city bitter rivals Juventus announced the signing of Balzaretti on a free-transfer.
This would, inevitably, cause the previous passion between him and the red side of Turin to be replaced with strong friction, and they opted to jeer the defender whenever he appeared against them.
He scored his first goal for La Vecchia Signora against Crotone in early 2007 and remained at the club until the end of that season.
He was then sold to Fiorentina, before having stints at Palermo and Roma.
The levels of praise for him and the promising skill he showed as a youngster were absent during his time in a Viola shirt, and he only survived half a season at the Stadio Artemio Franchi before moving to the Rosanero.
Balzaretti re-gained his prominent position in the starting line-up while in Sicily and re-established his position as one of Italy’s best defenders.
Three goals and 23 assists in 159 games for them is not a statistic that should be undermined, and the deeper figures show just how good he was.
The amount of goals he scored for Palermo was 38% of the amount he got in all competitions during his entire career, while the number of assists was 85% of his whole career and the number of appearances was more than a quarter.
His skill caused him to finally be recognised at international level after being part of several youth sides for the Azzurri.
Cesare Prandelli called him up in late 2010 before naming him in the Euro 2012 squad which finished as runners-up to Spain, and he appeared 16 times overall for the national side.
Back on the domestic stage, his performances at Palermo attracted interest from bigger clubs and he subsequently moved to the capital to join Roma after four years at the Stadio Renzo Barbera.
He showed glimpses of the form he had with Palermo at the Giallorossi but it wasn’t quite the same, and the second bit of misfortune of his career halted all possibility of it returning.
After a game against Sassuolo in 2013, he noticed pain in his groin and was later diagnosed to have a severe case of athletic pubalgia, more commonly known as a hernia in the groin.
It was thought he would never be able to play football again after that, but he made a return on May 31 2015 in the final game of the season.
This was to be his final ever game as a professional footballer, though, and was, rather fittingly, against Palermo.
After two years of battling, the injury got the better of him and Balzaretti announced his intention to retire.
“I am retiring from football,” he told the press on August 12 2015.
“Unfortunately the injury I’ve had is forcing me to hang up my boots.”
He has since stayed with the club to help out behind-the-scenes, but at 34-years-old his contributions to them, Palermo and, perhaps most of all Torino, will not be forgotten.
