Simone Verdi deserves credit for showing loyalty to Bologna and turning down Napoli, but the forward could risk halting his own progression by staying at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara for too long.
Now 25, Verdi will need to take that next step to a bigger club competing for major honours sooner rather than later if he wants to fulfil his potential. This January’s proposed move to Naples presented him with a great opportunity to play an important role in a team competing for the Scudetto as well as challenging in Europe.
Donato Orgnoni, the player’s agent, said that the decision was taken by Verdi and that it was made for personal reasons which had nothing to do with doubts surrounding how many minutes he would get at the Stadio San Paolo.
Verdi himself told Sky Sport Italia that his choice to stay in Bologna was not a rejection of Napoli and was taken because he did not want to leave the Rossoblu in January, that he would instead rather see out the season and consider his options again in the summer.
“I’m flattered by the offer, and I did think about it, but in the end I came back to my decision,” he said. “Napoli let me know of their appreciation and affection, I’m flattered but I didn’t want to leave Bologna now.
“There were moments of reflection, I knew the league leaders wanted me. With a calm head I decided to stay here. It was entirely my choice.”
While Verdi explains that the decision to stay was largely taken because of the timing of the proposed move, the clock is ticking for the forward who has only recently started to hit the heights many expected of him when he began to emerge in Italian football. Twenty-five is by no means an advanced age, but he is no longer a promising up-and-coming talent and will need to back himself if he is to take that next step, be it in Serie A or elsewhere.
Domenico Berardi offers a precedent of an exciting and in-demand player turning down a move in order to remain at a middling club when he turned down a move to Juventus in order to remain at Sassuolo in 2015.
Since then, the Neroverdi’s progress has stalled, the club have regressed and Berardi has been left behind by those who surrounded him – from then coach Eusebio Di Francesco to since departed teammates.
One key difference between the cases of Verdi and Berardi is the age of both players and with the latter being just 23 now, there is still time for him to get his move.
Had it not been for misfortune with injuries, Berardi might have been snapped up by one of Italy’s bigger sides by now, but Verdi should look at his current situation and realise that waiting doesn’t always work. Injury can hit, form can drop and teams’ interest can cool as a result.
A mid-season move to Napoli might have been a risk for the forward, but he would have been surrounding himself with players of a far superior ability to those in Emilia-Romagna and under the guidance of Maurizio Sarri it is hard to think that he wouldn’t improve. His decision to stay put does raise questions about his own self-belief and desire to challenge himself at the highest level.
Players showing loyalty to a club is not by any means something that should be criticised but by staying with Bologna for too long, Simone Verdi risks becoming a permanent ‘what if’ and his true potential will never be known unless he takes that step.
