Introducing Empoli’s Starboy — Tommaso Baldanzi
Italian football has a knack for diminutive attacking midfielders. They’ve become part of the fabric of Serie A. In recent years Paulo Dybala has been the league’s MVP, Papu Gomez was Atalanta’s talisman as they smashed through the glass ceiling and if we look back a little further the league has seen greats such as Alessandro Del Piero win countless Scudetto.
This leads us to the Tuscan town of Empoli and the Stadio Carlo Castellani, where Tommaso Baldanzi has been making a name for himself since he was eight years old. Baldanzi was born and raised in Tuscany, hailing from Castelfiorentino, a small city just a twenty-minute drive from where he now plays his football. The now nineteen-year-old has already made history for his clubs’ academy, winning the Under-16 National Championship in 2019 and going one better and winning Empoli their second-ever Campionato Primavera (Italy’s Under-19’s competition) since its introduction in the 1960s — being voted the league’s Most Valuable Player in the process.
It was in this same season (2020–21) that he made his professional debut, featuring (and assisting) in a 4–2 Coppa Italia win against Benevento. He, however, had to wait for his breakthrough into the senior squad, which after starring in the UEFA Youth League — of which Empoli qualified thanks to winning Italy’s U19 league — came in 2022. Since his debut late last season (a fifteen-minute cameo against Atalanta) he has gone from strength to strength. He is now a permanent fixture in Empoli’s starting eleven, he is the club’s top scorer in the league at the time of writing and the never-ending rumour mill has already touted Juventus and Liverpool as potential destinations.
Empoli’s System and Baldanzi’s Role
To properly assess Baldanzi, it’s important to first where he fits into Empoli’s system. The club is currently managed by former player Paolo Zanetti. He almost religiously uses a 4–3–1–2 formation, but there is tactical flexibility from game to game in how they operate. This is reflected in the team’s possession stats this season; they fluctuate wildly from game to game. For example, in the space of six days, they had beat Monza 1–0 with just 36% of the ball and then went to the Allianz Stadium and dominated possession (58%) but succumbed to a 4–0 defeat to Juventus. Yet it isn’t just a case of dominating the ball against ‘lesser’ sides, they shaded the majority of possession (51%) as they beat Inter 1–0 (spoiler: Baldanzi scored the only goal of the game).
Although the formation may appear slightly narrow, Empoli like to stretch the play using width when in possession and can be fluid in their movements. They are also comfortable with going long in moments of transition, asking the strikers to hold the ball up as the midfielders surge to the edge of the box, and long shots are a common sight in games containing Empoli (they are third in terms of average shot distance in Serie A at 18.6 yards).
Baldanzi operates as the ‘10’ in Empoli’s system — although has made brief cameos in a deeper midfield role and as a centre forward. If we look at the Italian’s heat map from this season so far:
Here we can see the fluidity in his game and the flexibility Empoli and Zanetti’s system allows him. Baldanzi is a very typical ‘number ten’ in a positional sense. He likes to drop deep to receive the ball, turn and face the goal and either pick a pass — or more likely — drive at opposition defences to create space for teammates.
Attributes
Positioning and Progression
As previously mentioned, Baldanzi likes to drop deep to retrieve the ball, and one of the most vital parts of his game is his ability to find space between the lines. It’s a fundamental part of any attacking midfielders game, and it allows Empoli to both break down resolute defences and transition quickly. Here is an example against ten-men Inter (and seconds after Baldanzi comes on as a sub):
Baldanzi (circled) has positioned himself behind Calhanoglu, on the Turkish midfielder's blindside.
He then bends his run and intelligently moves in front of his opponent, turns quickly and wins Empoli a free kick in a dangerous area. This has turned possession in their half into an attacking opportunity for his side within seconds.
Here are two other examples of how the nineteen-year-old operates:
He does not receive the ball on either occasion here, but you can see that he is placing himself on the blindside of the midfielders but not pushing far enough that a defender will get tight. This not only allows him to pick up the ball in dangerous areas but creates separation and in turn space for his teammates to operate. He is currently averaging almost 5 (4.94) progressive passes received per ninety, which is only behind the strikers that play ahead of him (Caputo, Lammers and Satriano) in Empoli’s squad. He is key to how Zanetti wants to attack, and his ability to find space allows Empoli to transition quickly from defence to attack and catch their opponents off guard.
His positioning allows him to find the space and pick up the ball, but it’s what he does when he is in possession that has caught the eye so far in his career. Baldanzi’s idol is Dybala, and while it may be too easy to compare a 5 foot 7 left-footed attacking midfielder with another, there are similarities in their game. The Italian has the traits that you may expect from someone with a low centre of gravity, but when combined with his youthful confidence in taking players on it can make his ability mesmerising. His close control is near-perfect and the variance in his dribbling makes him unpredictable, combined with his low centre of gravity making him extremely difficult to knock off the ball (this is reflected in his ranking in the 95th percentile for dispossessions).
He currently averages 3.19 carries into the final third per ninety, which is in the 93rd percentile for midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues, showing how penetrative he can be with the ball at his feet. One area he can improve, however, is taking people on — he currently only averages 1.65 per ninety, which is in the 11th percentile. If you look back at clips of him in the under-19s, it is a much more prevalent part of his game.
When it comes to passing, Baldanzi is an extremely accurate passer — ranking in the 90th percentile for pass completion (83%). His passing doesn’t particularly flag up highly in the data, ranking around average (within 10 of the 50th percentile) for Passes into the Penalty Area, Passes into the Final Third and Key Passes, he also ranks low on Expected Assists (0.09 per ninety) and is yet to register an assist this season. This is an area he needs improvement in, especially if he is to move up to a higher level of club, where the expectations are higher. However, although the data might reflect that he is a ‘safe’ passer, it doesn’t mean he isn’t an effective one. Lots of his passes come off of his progressive carries, drawing in defenders and then realising a teammate into space around him. Part of the beauty of Baldanzi is the gravitational pull he has for defenders, he can draw them in and then has the quickness of thought to release the ball to the right teammate in a second.
Shooting
If there was one word to describe Empoli’s #35’s goalscoring exploits so far this season then it would be efficient. He has scored four goals (making him the club's top scorer in the league) from just eleven shots, with a total of one expected goal(s). An over-performance of expected goals isn’t outrageous, but when it’s an over-performance of 3 from such little sample size it tends to point to luck. And in a sense, it is, but there is more to it. Here’s a look at his shot map:
As we can see, the majority of Baldanzi’s shots have come from outside the box, and — as I mentioned previously — this is a trait of Empoli in general. He has of course scored three of his four goals from inside the box, but these again are on the lower end of the expected goals scale (0.37, 0.12 and 0.09).
I think we can say with confidence that Baldanzi won’t score goals at this rate as he gets more game time, but what is interesting and adds some confidence of him being a regular name in the goalscoring stats is his shooting technique and ability to find space in and around the box. Here is his crowning moment of the season so far, a winner against Inter at San Siro:
He picks the ball up and drives at Inter’s defence, before playing a one-two with his teammate. He then picks the ball up again on the edge of the box (pictured) and takes one touch to set himself…
Before striking the ball cleanly towards the goal, it isn’t the most accurate shot but has enough power that Onana is unable to stop it. The ability to take a touch to set and strike the ball with power in a millisecond is what is so promising about Baldanzi’s shooting. This isn’t an isolated incident, and it gives confidence that he will regularly score these types of goals.
Here is another winning goal (this time at home to Sassuolo) for the young Italian:
Baldanzi (circled) manufactures space for himself on the edge of the box…
Again, he takes an excellent first touch upon receiving the ball to set himself in space…
And then improvises with a toe-poked finish past Sassuolo’s keeper. It’s his quickness of thought again to adjust how he takes the shot that helps him — a common theme with his game. There is imagination combined with technique, and that makes him unpredictable and dangerous going forward.
Areas to Improve and the Future
While in an attacking sense, Baldanzi’s physical profile appears to benefit him, it can hinder him defensively. He does win his fair share of tackles which shows a willingness to compete, but he can often lose duels (particularly aerially, but this is to be expected). Empoli compensates for this by having three central midfielders behind him, but dependent on the situation he might find himself in in the future, it is probably the biggest question mark on him as a player.
As mentioned previously, he can also work on becoming a more penetrative passer. More consistent passes into the penalty area and dangerous areas will add further unpredictability to his game and make him more of a well-rounded threat.
These are things he can work on, but for right now he is doing exactly the things he needs to do to develop and at Empoli, a club he has been at since he is eight, he has the perfect situation to continue to progress as a player. After spending much of the start of the season on the bench or out of the squad, he is now becoming a regular face in Gli Azzurri’s starting eleven, and Empoli are pulling their weight (and currently defying expectations) as they sit twelfth in Serie A.
Big clubs will be circling for Tommaso Baldanzi, but staying at Empoli for another season — with guaranteed game time and a key man in a top-five league, should be the immediate future for the Italian. From there, he should have his choice of teams — in his home country and further afield.
