Giovinco: ‘The Italian Messi’

This summer one of Europe’s finest young talents will be strutting his stuff at the Beijing Olympics as part of the Italian national side. The youngster’s name is Sebastian Giovinco and if you haven’t heard of him yet, you soon will.

The 21-year-old is a Juventus player but spent last season on loan at fellow Serie A club Empoli where he certainly caught the eye. At 5 ft 4, the attacking midfielder is nicknamed the ‘Atomic Ant’ and for what he lacks in size, he more than makes up for in ability. Despite the youngster having played just 3 senior matches (1 start) for the Juventus first team, he is held in extremely high regard by the club and particularly the fans.

A recent contract dispute with the club led to a fans protest as it was suggested that Arsenal were to set to move for the player with Robin Van Persie perhaps heading to Turin. A poll launched on the Juve fans vecchiasignora.com website ended with a staggering 89.5% voting in favour of snubbing a potential Van Persie player-exchange offer for Giovinco from the Gunners. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise as the wonderkid has been hailed as the future of the club and heir to club legend Alessandro Del Piero.