Player Focus: Curse of the Pharaoh Lifted as El Shaarawy Returns to Form

A year ago, you’ll remember there was a story doing the rounds that, upon joining Sampdoria, Samuel Eto’o had bought a villa on the Italian riviera. This was no ordinary villa either. Not at £20m. Altachiara once belonged to Lord Carnarvon. The name translates to Highclere, Carnarvon’s English residence, now famous as the setting for Downton Abbey.

Almost a century since Carnarvon died, his death remains a mystery. Ostensibly it was brought about by an infection from a mosquito bite he caught while shaving. Legend has it, however, that the supernatural had a role in his end.

Carnarvon, an Egyptologist, was the patron of archaeologist Howard Carter and it was in the Valley of the Kings that he discovered the tomb and sarcophagus of Tutankhamun. Of the 50 people present at the excavation, eight, Carnarvon and Carter included, soon passed into the afterlife. Talk of the Curse of the Pharaoh began. Perhaps spooked Eto’o didn’t buy the villa. His decision was actually more practical than that. Why spend £20m on a place only to leave in six months’ time?

Altachiara isn’t far up the coast from where Stephan El Shaarawy grew up. Nicknamed the Pharaoh because of his Egyptian heritage - his father Sabri is from Cairo - this boy king didn’t curse anyone. Instead he seemed curse. No sooner had he ascended to the throne, scoring 16 goals before Christmas 2012, than he all but disappeared. No 20-year-old since the great Giuseppe Meazza had been that prolific. What happened to El Shaarawy? Well, Milan happened to him. They didn’t sabotage him. But like dysfunctional parents, the forward’s upbringing could have been so much better.

After losing Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a new match winner had to be found from within. Max Allegri saw the potential within El Shaarawy and tapped into it. After a rocky start, he settled on a 4-3-3. Playing on the left, El Shaarawy surprised defenders with his quickness. He would cut inside and invariably find one of the corners. Why change what had revealed itself to be a winning formula? Why not Milan thought. So they signed Mario Balotelli. The system changed to suit him. He became the main man as Milan played to his strengths, not those of El Shaarawy and they were rewarded. It was the most consistent Balotelli has ever been in his career. He scored 12 goals in his first 13 appearances for the Rossoneri.

El Shaarawy found the net only twice in the second half of that season. Issues of compatibility were downplayed because they got on so well as colleagues. However upon watching them play together it was evident. El Shaarawy was also fatigued from carrying the team for four months. His rise to fame had been so sudden too that he was thrust into the spotlight without even realising it. When it dawned on him, it’s impact wasn’t negligible. There was more pressure to perform. Greater expectations. Off the pitch, he had to deal with the paparazzi, gossip and the distractions that came with it.

Milan added to these. While he was away at the Confederations Cup in Brazil, they entertained selling him. Anzhi - remember them? - had bid €40m and Milan were like: where do we sign? Anzhi were prepared to pay El Shaarawy €7m a year. But he didn’t want to move to Moscow and play in Dagestan. He’d just had a break-out season at Milan. Why, as the future of the club, would they be so short-sighted as to cash in on him? It unsettled El Shaarawy. Made him second guess how much faith Milan claimed to have in his talent. He then suffered a foot fracture. Relapsed. Milan sacked Allegri. They fired Clarence Seedorf. The fans held protests. San Siro became harder and harder a place to play in.

When El Shaarawy returned from injury he found Pippo Inzaghi on the bench. Inzaghi wished to build the team around him. He restored the 4-3-3 and El Shaarawy was one of the top performers on the opening day of last season as Milan beat Lazio 3-1. It was of particular concern, however, particularly to those who want El Shaarawy to do well when Inzaghi, his biggest admirer, left him out for three games. El Shaarawy was seriously upset about it. His former captain Massimo Ambrosini has frequently portrayed El Shaarawy as a particularly sensitive soul. El Sha is aware of mood around him. From the papers and the TV to how people look at him on the street. He over-analyses things. Let’s it get under his skin. His goal drought in particular got to him. When it ended 622 days later, you could tell it was like a liberation.

Inzaghi’s opinion of El Shaarawy never changed. “When a player like Stephan is out for six or seven months, he is difficult to replace,” Super Pippo said. El Shaarawy spent almost all of the second half of last season in the treatment room. He returned and scored twice against Torino but consensus was beginning to form around him: El Shaarawy had been a flash in the pan. He was only effective until the novelty wore off. From then onwards, his style of play was too predictable. His body broke down too often to ever be depended on.

It was this atmosphere that persuaded El Shaarawy to leave Milan in the summer. Sinisa Mihajlovic also planned to play a 4-3-1-2. El Sha’s wide left position didn’t exist in it. As such, if he wanted to play, he would have to learn a new role in midfield. Understandably he sought a fresh start and a new challenge instead. A chance to play regularly to give himself the best possible chance of making the Italy squad at Euro 2016.

Monaco offered just that. Talent developers out of the limelight, it looked like a good fit. Instead it was a complete farce. El Shaarawy and coach Leonardo Jardim didn’t see eye to eye. “He doesn’t have the physical durability to play every three days,” Jardim complained, adding to the suspicion that El Shaarawy is fragile. After making his 23rd appearance for the club, Monaco stopped playing him altogether. Another two would activate a clause in their arrangement with Milan and automatically make the transfer permanent. It was the ultimate vote of no confidence.

Milan were furious. The €14m they’d expected to get for El Shaarawy vanished into thin air. Instead he re-appeared at Milanello in January. When Roma agreed to take him on loan it was without the obligation to sign him at the end of the season. A take it or leave it figure of €13m was included. Roma will take it on the basis of his first five appearances for the club. El Shaarawy has combined for five goals, scoring four, assisting one.

His impact has been instant. El Shaarawy marked his debut with a volleyed back-heel goal. “I learned it from Ibra,” he said. He also got the clincher against Sassuolo. It was the first time since the winter of 2012 that El Shaarawy had scored in back-to-back games. Only fellow January signing Diego Perotti [7.54] has a higher WhoScored rating [7.49] since joining the club. A regular member of Antonio Conte’s Italy squad even when his career was at a low ebb in Monaco, expect El Shaarawy, fitness permitting, to make it to the Euros in the summer.

“My life has changed over the last month,” he says, “but I don’t want to get carried away. It’s only the beginning. I came here to turn my career around."

Should Roma take up the option to sign El Shaarawy permanently? Let us know in the comments below