Manchester City and Norwegian international striker, Erling Haaland’s, goalscoring exploits on the pitch are well known, but many fans of the Italian Serie A game will know that there is potentially a new arrival on the scene in the shape of AC Milan’s 15 year old hugely rated talent, Francesco Camarda.
With incredible Academy statistics as he has worked his way through the youngster footballing levels as he seeks to achieve his dream of becoming a professional player, he can now officially boast that aged just 15 years, eight months and 16 days old, he has now made his professional debut for the Rossoneri’s first team squad – the game in question was Fiorentina, and in taking to the pitch he also became the youngest ever player to feature in Italy’s top flight game and top football bookmakers will be giving odds on just how far this lad might go.
Given the circumstances though, Camarda took plenty of headlines and having made his debut, journalist Luca Bendoni revealed that his youth age group stats had been outrageous and phenomenal, pointing to the 2018/19 campaign where he racked up a breathtaking 247 goals for the age groups he represented.
He backed that up with 172 the next season, with 64 and 21 coming in his next two campaigns as he stepped up and was tested further. He has also scored four goals in six appearances for Italy’s Under 17 side.
The previous youngest record was held by Wisdom Amey who was just 15 years and 274 days old when he made his debut for Bologna in May 2021. Whilst Camarda will be delighted with his own achievement here (and no doubt pleased with the fact he has impressed enough to not only be lifted into first team affairs, but stay there and get a proper taste of the professional game at his tender age), across the history of football there are, in fairness, not many debutants who can mark their first appearance with a victory, unless their particular team is out of sight in goal terms, when they are introduced.
Coming on for a 1-0 victory, the manager, Stefano Pioli, was clearly confident enough in the young lads ability to help them see out the game and make some kind of impact, but it was a risky move given the state of the table, and Camarda will no doubt take further confidence and belief from that, because it could well have utterly back fired on their manager given Fiorentina had more of the ball, and had far greater chances in the game as well.
A great show of faith, albeit possibly mainly forced by the absence of Oliver Giroud, but a show of faith none the less, and Camarda may not have lit up the game in a way he would have dreamed for his debut, but you only need to look at the reaction to his minutes on the pitch to know that he absolutely did not let himself down, and their gaffer will no doubt look at his efforts and consider him potentially worthy of a few more substitute appearances in the very near future, as Pioli continues to encourage his development with further tastes of the real game.
Image from: unsplash.com
