From Pescara, to Paris. You could have already seen Lorenzo Insigne and Marco Verratti had a lot of talent in the days Zdenek Zeman coached them at Pescara, and got their team promoted in Serie A. Both of them are now important players for the Italian national teams, and two of the protagonists of tonight's big game between PSG and Napoli.
"I called Verratti Marcolino, and Insigne "Lorenzolo", like one of the seven dwarfs. They got along on the pitch with their eyes closed, both of them but also Ciruzzo Immobile. I've tried to teach them football and form them, the rest they've done it themselves, with availability and sacrifice. The result was the historic promotion of Pescara in Serie A", has told Zeman to La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"They've grown a lot in the past few years but don't have to stop because they still are able to improve. Verratti has been France's best player for two years, and Lorenzo the best offensive winger of Serie A. I saw Insigne in Napoli's youth team and he impressed me with his pace and technical skills, I wanted him at Foggia in lega Pro in 2010, he was 19. He scored 19 goals in the league and 7 in Coppa Italia. I had him, Farias, Sau... A nice squad. I brought him with me to Pescara the next year. In the first years he spent at Napoli they made him run and defend his whole flank. He's a forward, he has to stay around the area. I think he could score more than 20 goals.
Ask Immobile how many goals did he get him to score... He was the best player in the league even if Serie B is different than Serie A. He's done well under Sarri, but the coach wanted to play with one touch while Insigne likes to dribble past his opponent, he's phenomenal in that aspect. He's got a bit more freedom under Ancelotti.
Verratti suffered a lot from the summer preparation with me, even to the point he wasn't a starter at first, but once he got ready I couldn't remove him anymore. Why isn't he this good with PSG? He's a regista who has to play in a three-man midfield with two "interni" (central midfielders, higher than the regista). Playing as a regista in a two-man midfield is harder. He has to be in the center of the game and play a lot of balls, but I think he does well even with the national team. In his role, Verratti is the strongest player in the world, to me even better than Modric".
