Is Simone Zaza the next Gianluca Vialli?

Between the forty-two players arrived to the national training centre at Coverciano last week to undergo physical tests in preparation for this summer World Cup, there was a couple to young men coming from a struggling side. Simone Zaza and Domenico Berardi both get their call-up for tests with Cesare Prandelli's Italy side Prandelli acknowledged in an interview with the newspaper Libero on Tuesday that he already had 18 names in mind for his 23-man squad. So it’s interesting to see which players might be battling it out for the remaining five open spots. There is going to be fierce competition for attacking places in the squad next summer. With players like Ciro Immobile and Antonio Cassano still unsure about their spots, Zaza will be hardly among them. He probably will have a better chance to get the call-up for the roster Prandelli will start to assemble looking to Euro 2016. By the way, Sassuolo’s forward is a player hard to overlook. Zaza showed flashes of his ability during this term. He has been effective playing as centre-forward or wide out for Eusebio Di Francesco and he’s one of the gifted forwards which have flourished this season. Zaza is a two-dimensional forward able to play into the box and wide open as well. His value is more than simply in scoring goals although the 22 year old forward provided 7 goals out from 29 appearances this season. The left-footed shot that found the net to give Sassuolo the lead and a pivotal point 1-1 at home against Cagliari another reminder of what Zaza can do. Another standout prospect gone through the Atalanta youth system, Zaza is a mobile, strong and quick forward that successfully integrates the prodigious starlet Berardi. Together with his left-footed teammate, Zaza has gone to form one of the rising and prominent attacking partnerships in the Serie A. Sassuolo’s hopes of survival go through the pair of Berardi and Zaza.  His pace and directness caught the eyes since his stint at Ascoli in Serie B 2012-13. After he ended the season scoring 18 goals, Zaza was brought and he’s now co-owned by Sassuolo and Juventus. Although Zaza isn’t a finished product, his tools generated a lot of excitement and comparisons have been made with Gianluca Vialli, former Sampdoria and Juventus forward who lead Blucerchiati to their lone Scudetto in 1990-91 and Bianconeri to their second Champions League in 1995-96. As Vialli at Cremonese, Zaza cut his teeth in a small club. As former Chelsea manager, Zaza started his Serie A career with not a big club, although with Vialli up front Sampdoria enjoied the most successful era in its history. Vialli is one of the 20 best attackers to ever played the Italian top flight so this is a demanding comparison for Zaza. While is not sure that Zaza will replicate Vialli’s highs, he surely started the long way towards achieving them.