AC Milan appear to have something pretty special in their ranks as Francesco Camarda continues to draw headlines for his goalscoring exploits.
Sciabolata Morbida‘s revelation on Twitter last year went viral as he highlighted that the then-13-year-old striker scored 247 goals in 40 games in 2017-18, 172 goals in 31 games in 2018-19 and 64 goals in 16 games in 2019-20 for a total of 483 goals in 87 games, at 5.5 average goals per game.
Milan’s Primavera head coach Ignazio Abate welcomed Camarda to his squad as one of three new players who got a taste of training at that level in December, and he scored twice against what was virtually an adult side. But what makes him so special? Scout7Calcio has taken a look…
Camarda possesses the following attributes: incredible Composure (instinct) and finishing, high footballing IQ, there understanding and vision for finding space and timing Runs into it, pace (over a bigger Distance), dribbling even in tight spaces, good link-up play and good hold-up ability. Sounds pretty good right?
Movement and IQ
Below you can see Camarda’s movement and how intelligent he is, as it always seems like he is two or three steps ahead and he knows exactly how he and his team-mate should move relative to how the opponent will.
The next clip is a good demonstration of his IQ and vision of the spaces that he sees and also his understanding when to run into it. He first pulls out the defender on the wing to open space for his team-mate, then by the time he is back he himself runs into that space.
Once again he sees the space he wants to run into, but it is more interesting to see his composure in front of the goal, or even moreso his instinct. The moment he receives the ball he also could try to instantly shoot, yet he makes a cutback and finishes well.
In the move below Camarda drops deep this time as the target man for a long pass. He wins the ball and instantly starts his run into the space in which he wants to receive the ball, and with his pace he gets the ball first before using his dribbling to beat three defenders.
Hold-up play
His physicality and hold-up play must be highlighted too. Despite only being 14 years of age and playing against predominantly 16-year-olds, he has an impressive physique and can hold the ball up – even against 3 defenders – very well, even when opponents throw themselves against him.
Aerial and ground threat
Camarda is also showing strong signs of being comfortable with both feet. Below you can see two different but equally emphatic finishes, one with him left foot and one with his right, to the extent you almost cannot tell which foot is the weak one. This always gives defenders massive problems, because they can’t simply show him onto his weaker side.
Camarda’s aerial ability is also impressive. According to some sources he is around 1.84m tall already which helps winning a lot of duels in the air, but he also already knows exactly how to move inside the box, i.e. when to time his jump to make dangerous headers.
Dribbling
Dribbling is another area where the teenager seems to be ahead of his years. He starts the situation below in a 1v1 but it quickly becomes a 1v2, yet the forward shows his really good tight ball control and uses a burst of acceleration to quickly dribble through both of them and score.
Even in tight space with his back against a wall he can always use his dribbling to get out of it. As seen in the next clip, he has to dribble against threee defenders in really close quarters, since the game is almost over and his team-mates aren’t moving in to help him, but he manages to.
However, at the age of 14 it is very important that he has people around him like family and friends (plus of course coaches) who keep his feet on the ground.
There is naturally the risk of trying to do too much too soon, but it feels like the U16 level is way too easy for his skill set and their has to be discussions regarding either putting him into the Primavera and letting him develop against bigger and older players, or at the very least being used in the U17s.
He has to be moved up now, because ultimately it is better that he scores a few less goals but is exposed to stronger players than letting him play every week against defences that do not know how to deal with him.
Knowing Abate and how he constantly moves up U17 players, plus also knowing that Liberali and Camarda both were both in training in December with the Primavera, it seems there is already a plan behind the scenes to bring him up when the moment is right. Then, the world will watch Francesco Camarda.
