As Barcelona are currently and continually proving, size doesn’t matter. After a number of years where seemingly every club was packing their squad with imposing physical players, the game has changed to the extent where smaller [insert own use of ‘diminutive’ here] players are very much in vogue. From the sublime Lionel Messi, now widely regarded as the world’s best player, through to David Silva - currently earning similar accolades for his impact on the Premier League - and ending with Javier Mascherano thriving in central defence, their popularity has never been so high.
Italy is no different in this regard and Cesare Prandelli's use of Giuseppe Rossi and Antonio Cassano as a strike partnership, at the expense of excluding quality line-leading strikers such as Alessandro Matri and Giampaolo Pazzini, shows just how much the common consensus has shifted. No longer is a target man with a play-maker beside him a prerequisite and when Parma play host to Udinese this Sunday it will be, in aftermath of Alexis Sanchez' exit to Spain, a meeting of the two most impactful examples of this new generation.
Currently finding space away from the glaring spotlight that is ever-present at a club like Juventus - who still own 50% of his rights in co-ownership - Sebastian Giovinco has settled into life in the provinces with Parma. He has shown clear signs of maturity as he finally begins to develop to somewhere close to his incredible early potential. Since joining the Stadio Tardini based club he has thrived, scoring seven goals in an impressive debut season in which he also recorded three assists. This term he has enjoyed an even better start as his six goals in nine games (and a WhoScored.com rating of 7.02) thus far highlight, enough to see him as high as third in Serie A's goal scoring charts.
Those charts themselves make for interesting reading as, joining Giovinco among the top ten are Antonio Di Natale and Emanuele Calaiò (both 5'7") as well as Atalanta's Maximiliano Moralez who stands at just 5'3". These smaller players are finding more and more room to maneuver too with Giovinco currently fourth in shots per game (4.1) while Fabrizio Miccoli, Wesley Sneijder and Di Natale once again join him in the top ten.
Regular calls to the Italy squad have followed as he slowly establishes himself as a viable alternative to Rossi or Cassano and he has quickly earned four caps under Cesare Prandelli. He may have become the star attraction at Parma, but talk of a return 'home' to Juventus seems to never relent and new coach Antonio Conte has said on more than one occasion he would like to see him brought back.
The obvious call is for the Turin-born 25 year old to attempt to fill the considerably large void the impending retirement of Alessandro Del Piero will create. Much like the Juve legend, these smaller players are often among the most fouled in the league, a fact borne out by statistics showing that Andrea Cossu, Filippo Porcari, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Juan Guillermo Cuadrado are among the leagues most fouled players and all are under 5'8" tall.
Watching him flourish away from Turin is pleasing to all who have followed his career to date, but whether Sebastian Giovinco will ever shine as brightly in Juve colours is yet to be discovered. Lining up opposite him on Sunday however, will be a man already thriving in black and white stripes, albeit at the less fashionable Udinese rather than those synonymous with Serie A's grand Old Lady. Four years younger but, at 5'5", an inch taller than Giovinco, Gabriel Torje has been granted the kind of playing time that so eluded the Italian at a similar age.
One of the players signed this past summer to fill the gaps left by the Tardini club's now traditional summer exodus, the Romanian has excelled playing just behind Di Natale, a role in which Sanchez impressed enough last term to earn his move to Barcelona. After playing over 100 times for Dinamo Bucureşti, he has already garnered experience which sets him apart from native players his own age, he has slotted in almost seamlessly. Francesco Guidolin has placed immense faith in his new starlet, at the expense of exciting Italian Under-21 international Diego Fabbrini and the coach has started him in all but one of Udinese's matches thus far.
He has yet to score for the club, but he has never been a prolific marksman, as his relatively meagre return of 20 career strikes serves to highlight, although he has an impressive four goals in fifteen full international appearances for Romania. What he does do is continue the clubs impressive and incisive attacking play, built upon devastating speed on the break and is heavily involved in the vastly improved defensive solidity of the side this term. That is down to excellent organisation and tactical discipline which starts from Di Natale and Torje and continues back throughout the whole team.
It will be intriguing to watch both in direct competition this weekend where, despite their small stature, both Sebastian Giovinco and Gabriel Torje can continue their progress towards big futures.
