Italian football has long had a love affair with number ‘10’s. The history of Calcio is littered with incredible talents who shone in that position and with that number. My own conscious memory of football includes the incredible football shown in this country by Channel 4 as they covered Italian football on Sundays. The likes of Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti, in particular, stood out as players with a rare combination of artistry and technique through this tactical analysis we will shine a spotlight on the latest Italian talent breaking through.

In recent seasons, it is fair to say that Italian football and Serie A has been in something of a down period. Following the glorious years of the 1990s when Italian teams could attract talent from all over the world, we have seen Italy fall behind England, Spain, and arguably Germany in terms of the product on the field and environment that surrounded football. Over the last 18 months or so, however, there has been something of a revolution surrounding Italian football led by the performances last season of Milan, who won the Scudetto amidst a wave of nostalgia, and Luciano Spalleti’s Napoli this season.

In this article, we will be focusing on Serie A but not on one of the traditional powerhouses of the game. Instead, we are looking to one of the smaller teams not only in Serie A but in the region of Tuscany where the next big Italian ‘10’ might just be emerging and the tactics behind his game.

That player is the 19-year-old Empoli attacker Tommaso Baldanzi. The youngster is a product of the youth academy at Empoli and he has established himself this season as a key first-team player. This season, under Paolo Zanetti, we have seen Empoli tend to play in a 4-3-1-2 system, or variants of this, and Baldanzi has made the role as the ‘10’ behind the strikers his own.

From this position, Baldanzi displays rare positional intelligence, for a player of his age, and his ability to find and occupy space between the lines has been one of the key aspects of Empoli’s attacking play this season. The young attacking midfielder receives intelligently and frequently allows his side to progress up the field safely and securely.

There have already been reports in Italy that the likes of Milan, Inter and Juventus are all closely tracking the development of Baldanzi. In this scout report, we will provide a tactical analysis of the key strengths of the player with a view to showing just why he is generating such interest this season.

Profile

As you can see from the data profile here, Baldanzi is a midfield player who thrives in the creative side of the game. Interestingly, his percentile rankings for goal contributions stand relatively low at the 49th percentile. He has actually, however, scored four goals in 808 minutes — an impressive output for a team of Empoli’s stature.

In terms of his creative output, he sees a lot of the ball, despite tending to occupy advanced positions, and he is in the 77th percentile for passes per 90 and the 92nd percentile for accurate pass %. He is a player who tends to receive and link play although this absolutely does not mean that his passing remains safe or passive. Indeed, you can see that he is in the 77th percentile for progressive passes per 90 as well.

As you can see from Baldanzi’s heatmap, he is not a player who tends to stay in one area of the pitch but there is a tendency in his game to occupy the half-spaces. He uses these areas of the pitch to find spaces within the defensive structures of the opposition and to receive the ball between the lines and in pockets of space.

Understanding of space

One of the biggest strengths of Baldanzi’s game comes in his understanding and appreciation of space. This is something that is extremely difficult to effectively teach a young player because a lot of it comes from a ‘feel’ for the game. Some players, like Thomas Müller of Bayern Munich and Germany, seem to have an innate ability to read the game and drop into areas in order to receive the ball. Baldanzi has this ability.

It can be easy for a young player to get caught up in the moment during a transition, for example, and to get ahead of the ball or into areas that are more difficult to receive the ball in. Baldanzi, however, plays with his head up. He scans and identifies space very effectively, and he typically drops off to take up good positions in the opposition half. Interestingly, this applies whether Empoli are in their build-up phase, where Baldanzi would look to find space to receive the ball and help his team progress, or in the more established attacking phase where he looks for space around the penalty area.

We see an example here of Baldanzi finding space to help his team in the attacking phase. This example is taken from the match between Inter and Empoli and as you can see the game is still tight, 0-0, in the second half.

As the Empoli player carried the ball up the wide area Baldanzi was making a run through the central area. This is what I meant when I said that it is easy for younger players to get caught up in the moment and take up less strong positions. The temptation here would be for Baldanzi to crash the area and attack the last line. Instead, the young Italian scans and recognises an opportunity to find a pocket of space at the edge of the area. Baldanzi checks his run and drops back into the shaded area of the field, the defender tracking him loses his movement and runs into the area looking to protect the goal and this allows the ball to be pulled back to Baldanzi to receive in a very strong area.

This time we see the young midfielder occupying intelligent areas of the pitch in order to help the ball progress. This time, the match is away to Udinese and early in the match, it is still a physical battle as both teams try to gain superiority in the middle of the pitch. I have highlighted the positioning of Baldanzi in this example as, once again, he has drifted into space away from opposition defenders.

This positioning from the young attacking midfielder allows him to receive the ball on the half-turn and to immediately look to be aggressive and forward-thinking. When receiving the ball in areas of the pitch like this Baldanzi has a sense of ‘gravity’ in that he is starting to attract quicker pressure and more defenders towards him because they are aware of the threat that he carries if he is able to break into the final third.

A dangerous ball carrier

When we talk in football about a ‘ball carrier’ there is a tendency to think about players who dribble and look to engage opposition defenders 1v1. There is, though, another set of ball carriers who are effective when it comes to driving forward in possession and helping his team to move the ball forward. Tommaso Baldanzi falls into the second category. He likes to receive the ball in space and in moments of transition carry the ball quickly and aggressively forward.

While he has not been putting up strong 1v1 outputs in terms of direct dribbling he does carry the ball effectively before then finding teammates in better positions once he has pulled players in towards the ball, remember his output for accurate passes?

When it comes to his direct penetrating carries, across his minutes this season in Serie A, you can see again that he does not stick to one side, although he has a preference for the right, and he likes to receive in the half-spaces before driving forward and looking to break the line with a progressive run.

This time, we see an example where Baldanzi has received the ball in the right half-space before winning an attacking duel and looking to drive his team forward and into dangerous areas. As he drives forward he looks to attack centrally in order to isolate and pin back opposition defenders. With two teammates, in the 4-3-1-2 system, ahead of the ball making different runs these runs in transition are extremely dangerous.

This time, again in the match vs Inter with Empoli leading this time, we see Baldanzi driving forward and carrying the ball forward from a position that was both deeper and more central.

As Baldanzi drives forward he keeps his head up and his awareness and game understanding means that he is always aware of the positions and runs being made by teammates ahead of the ball. Here, there are three Empoli players making runs at different depths and angles ahead of the ball. With Baldanzi driving the game in this manner his coaches can always be sure that he will identify and look to use the correct option.

Intelligent use of the ball

Next, we will look at the way that Baldanzi uses the ball intelligently, especially in the final third. He is not a ‘10’ that will necessarily look to create space and generate shots, despite the fact that he has scored four goals already this season.

Instead, Baldanzi will either look to drive forward, as we have already seen, or look for opportunities to connect with teammates in order to take advantage of the space left by the opposition’s defensive block. You can see from the progressive pass map once again that Baldanzi does most of his best work in the half-spaces from where he can receive and play passes.

Here, from the match between Roma and Empoli, we see an example of the way that Baldanzi uses the ball intelligently when he drives into dangerous areas. Once again he is driving forward in possession and once again he is in the half-space on the right side of the pitch. As he drives forward he reads the space and drives into the central areas.

Once again in these areas, it comes down to decision-making. It would be easy to try to shoot when driving into this space, but Baldanzi is a very good team player and he keeps his head up and finds the angle to play a through ball past the last line.

Our final example comes from the game that Empoli played away to Lazio and as Baldanzi drives forward, this time in the left half-space, he again has runners moving into space ahead of the ball.

These are the areas in which Baldanzi stands out as despite being a young player he has the poise and game intelligence to not only play the pass but to play it at the right time and to find a way to open the game out. This time the space that opens up is wide and the young Italian clips the ball over the top into space to be attacked.

Conclusion

At 19 years old, it is too early to anoint Tommaso Baldanzi as the next great ‘10’ for Italy. However, it is fair to say that the early signs are extremely promising. The fact that he has developed outside the traditional powerhouses of the big Italian sides also makes him a very interesting young player and prospect.

While there will be no shortage of clubs looking to secure his signature this coming summer there is a sense that another season of regular first-team football at Empoli might benefit Baldanzi hugely.