15-year-old Francesco Camarda subs on for Milan to become the youngest debutant in Serie A history pic.twitter.com/rZBOB9TRTC
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 25, 2023
As Fransesco Camarda stepped onto the pitch last week making his debut for AC Milan’s senior team, it wasn’t really the most unforeseen outcome for most Milan fans. While he proceeded to write his name in the history books being the youngest debutant in Serie A at 15 years of age (yes 15!!), Camarda’s shoulders will have to get used to carrying the burden of expectations his skillsets have set and weight the jersey of AC Milan bears upon him.
But as such this article aims to look at Camarda’s journey, which was anything but easy, analyzing his profile and what to look forward in his journey…
Video Scouting: How best to Describe Fransesco Camarda?
Vid 1: Camarda’s footage with Milan Primavera and Italian Youth teams (courtesy of YT: SVMM)
How best to describe Camarda?? This is a question that popped in lot of scouts mind but to eager Milanisti, Camarda’s as close to a profile of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, their talisman over all those years for Milan across 2 stints. Strong athletic build yet a soothing technique on the ball, especially with some great ball manipulation inside the box- the best package a forward can have. As we see in Vid1, camarda’s been used in roles that his beyond-the-age physical attributes can help him outmuscle players of his age group but also show excellent feet to ball coordination.
Camarda’s also good at improvising his body position pre finishing- a most sought after trait that you want in a forward. With Longer span with his legs, Camarda makes an excellent striker inside box for cutbacks and crosses.
Vid 2: A snippet combining Ibra’s earlier career days and Camarda’s footage offers a rather striking resemblance
Vid 2 above perhaps makes my point on the Ibra comparisions spot on: The initial 30 seconds showing Ibra’s days at Juve and then subsequent 20 seconds of Camarda’s recent footage. Both able to play wide forwards role to hold and lay off but also drag markers away with Skill, meaning Camarda can succeed both in a 2 striker or a single striker roles in systems such as a classic 4-4-2 or a 3-5-2 or more sophisticated ones like 3-2-2-3 operating alongside wingers.
In Milan’s 1st team context, Camarda’s minutes could be unlikely to involve him a lot on the ball where more prolific wingers like Leao or Pulisic are the typical ball volume masters in Pioli’s system. Now this could be Camarda’s 1st test, whether he could solely stay in a game to sniff chances operating as an out and out striker and not get lot of time on the ball which has characterized his days.
Fransesco Camarda’s Future: What can be the ideal path for him to realize his best potential
Pic: Fransesco Camarda with Milan
Camarda ideally would have been a understudy for Giroud and could have been played a role akin to what Jovic is doing now. But it’s also important to remember that Camarda’s still just 15, and forcing too much out of him wouldnt really be ideal.
Of course my own evaluation of his profile akin to Zlatan shouldnt be the metric judge him either. Camarda’s journey can turn out in many possibilities and forwards like him can still be succesful players and still not achieve the volume of goals Zlatan did. Think of it more like a Giroud or Mandzukic who have played so well up front with not so huge numbers but providing value to the team with their physical and technical traits.