Scout Report: Nicolò Rovella

Nicolò Rovella was born in Sagrate, a town within one of football’s great cities — Milano. However, Rovella didn’t come through either of the historic institutions in the city (AC & Internazionale, of course) or even through nearby Atalanta, renowned for their youth setup in recent years. Instead, the five-foot-ten midfielder began his career at Serie D side (the fourth tier of Italian football) ASD Alcione Milano, based in the west of the city.

He didn’t spend long at Alcione, and at 16-years-old he made the move 147km south, to Genoa. Rovella was a standout for ‘Il Grifone’ at youth football, progressing from their Under-17’s to captaining their Primavera team (essentially the Under-19's). By his third season at the club, his standout performances at youth level started to pay off. Thiago Motta — then Genoa’s manager — handed Rovella his debut the day before his 18th birthday, in a fourth-round Coppa Italia game. Three weeks later, he was given his Serie A debut as a substitute in a 4–0 defeat to Internazionale. Things were progressing well for Rovella at the time, with a growing faith in him.

Unfortunately, things weren’t going so well for the club, Thiago Motta was sacked nine days after the defeat to Inter, as they were rooted to the bottom of the Serie A table. This delayed any further impact Rovella would have on their season — making his next appearance nineteen game-weeks later with just four games left in the season.

Things may well have gone the same for him last season if not for a COVID outbreak at Stadio Luigi Ferraris early in the season. This afforded the Italian a chance at first-team football — and it was a chance he took. With 1,352 minutes played across all competitions and an eighteen million euro move to Juventus announced in January (although he’ll stay in Rossoblù colours until the end of the 2021–22 season), the nineteen-year-old seems set for the big time.

Style of Play

Rovella mainly plays as a deep-lying midfielder in a 3–5–2 — a formation that Genoa rarely deviate from. The young Italian plays as part of a midfield three, with two wing-backs on either side. In attack, they utilise something of a throwback duo, the little and large combination — think Jermaine Defoe & Peter Crouch at Tottenham — but in this case, it was 5'9 Mattia Destro & 6'4 Gianluca Scamacca (alongside other combinations).

Despite the Ligurian side being the worst attacking side in the league based on Expected Goals (just 37.8 for the entire season) — Rovella excels as a creator from deep. He ranks in the 83rd percentile in his position for Assists (0.15 per90) and 80th percentile for Expected Assists (0.11 per90). One particularly key strength of the Milano native is his set-pieces. He ranks in the top ten per cent of midfielders for Goal Creating Actions from dead balls (0.08 per90). This is particularly valuable to a team that doesn’t create many chances and one that flirted with relegation throughout the season. While his set-piece ability does inflate both his Assist & Expected Assist numbers, Rovella is still an above-average creator from midfield in open play — he posts 1.74 Shot Creating Actions per90, ranking in the 74th percentile for midfielders.

One extremely promising attribute of Rovella’s game is his passing. If you watch any highlight reel of the Italian, it becomes clear to see. He in particular thrives at switching the play (he ranks in the top fifteen percentile for switches per90 among midfielders). He’ll look to get the ball over the top to Genoa’s onrushing left-wing back, which allows the side to progress up the pitch quickly. While his passing can be great at times, it is still often inconsistent. He also doesn’t progress the ball enough (just 3.56 progressive passes per90) at this moment in time. This is something that Rovella will want to work on in 2021–22, as the skill to do this to at a high standard is there — it’s just the consistency that’s not.

Rovella defends with high intensity. He ranks in the top ten per cent of midfielders for pressures per90 (23.2). However, he often does this to little success, with just 22.2% of his pressures resulting in the ball being successfully turned over. As can be expected from a team that often concedes a lot of possession and for his position, most of his defensive work comes in his own half. For a midfielder that does play deep, his defensive numbers aren’t overly promising. He ranks in the bottom 29th percentile for successful tackles per90 (just 1.21) and just the 54th percentile for interceptions per90 (1.36). One criticism is that Rovella hasn’t developed enough physically yet, and is still quite lightweight for a midfielder in his position.

What he does do, defensively, is position himself well. He ranks in the 78th percentile for clearances per90, indicating that he is often in the right areas to relieve pressure on Genoa’s defence. This is further backed up by his 1.90 passes blocked per90, which is again in the top ten per cent for midfielders. Whilst Rovella may not have developed physically yet, these sort of skills indicate that his defensive IQ (for lack of a better phrase) is fairly high, and will only improve as he grows into his — admittedly slight — frame.

2021–22 and Beyond…

Genoa & Rovella start their season away at champions and freshly rebranded Inter Milano. With a settled manager and system (for now) in Davide Ballardini, Rovella’s aim for 2021–22 will be to establish himself as the first choice in the midfield. The young Italian only started 12 games in the league last season and will want to improve on that figure, despite still only being 19 years old.

On the pitch, I’d expect his attacking influence to grow, displaying the sort of qualities that convinced Tottenham’s new Sporting Director Fabio Paratici to sign him for Juventus. Rovella will want to become the go-to linkup between Genoa’s defence and attack and will look to release the two wing-backs quickly in order to catch the opposition on the counter.

It’s hard to determine the Milano-born’s ceiling at this point, with just over 1,000 minutes in top-flight football to his name. While he was signed for a rather large fee for Italy’s most successful sides, whether or not he pulls on a Bianconeri shirt remains to be seen. The short-term goal for Rovella will be to establish himself as a starter and play over 2,000 minutes in Serie A this season. The long-term goal will be to play for Juventus, looking to slot into a midfield alongside countryman Manuel Locatelli for club and country for years to come. That all starts on Saturday.