Alessandro Bastoni has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism lately, amid Italy’s World Cup failure, but Marcel Desailly has come to his aid a bit – although not with loads of praise.
From the simulation in the Derby d’Italia to the red card against Bosnia, it’s safe to say that Bastoni has been far from a popular man in Italy lately. Previously touted as the best Italian defender, some have even suggested that he’s very overrated.
The Milan legend Marcel Desailly, who knows a thing or two about defending, was asked about the Inter defender in an interview with The Italian Football Podcast. He simply said that Bastoni has reached his peak already, while stating that he isn’t even half as good as Maldini.
“I think he has been consistent, I think he’s been at Inter for like 7 seasons and doing well no matter who the coach is.
“He has helped Inter to probably to win the league this season by his consistency and understanding how to read the game. But I think the limit is there, international level, this is it.
“He managed to adapt himself again with Gattuso. He is on the left side, if you want to compare him to Maldini, but he isn’t even half as good as Maldini. But he is who he is,” he stated.
While it might sound like a bunch of criticism, it’s one of the few reasonable takes that have been making the rounds recently. The fact remains that Bastoni is one of the best Serie A defenders, but expecting much more from him (at the moment) is probably a bit foolish.
“ it’s one of the few reasonable takes ” I honestly don’t think it is reasonable to compare Bastoni to Maldini, even to say he is much worse. These 2 names should never be in the same sentence, probably not even same article. It is like saying Haaland is better than Fullkrug. No sh*t…
“Not even half as good” is being very generous to Bastoni, like very.
There is a plethora of defenders noticeably inferior to Maldini (like pretty much everyone minus a few) and Bastoni isn’t even a quarter of their level.
The comparison with Maldini is too much of a stretch,
I won’t even dare to compare Bastoni to Nesta.
These new age reporters are over hyping These GenZ players too much
What happened to the other half of his comments Isak? You omitted the comments abt Leao😆.
Too negative for the fanbois. They might need their meds after reading his comments.
Bastoni? Maldini? What a laugh. Not in Bastoni’s wildest dreams would he come even close.