Ahead of Arsenal’s crucial Champions League tie with Napoli, the Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has pin pointed opposition winger Lorenzo Insigne as a major threat.
Both Napoli are Arsenal have earned victories in their first Champions League group match and therefore in the Group of Death, the tie is expected to be a cracker at the Emirates. Wenger has hailed Napoli boss Rafael Benitez as a great manager and earmarked Insigne as a major threat ahead of the tie.
“He [Insigne] is mobile, he is not tall but quick and very good in the transition from defence to attack,” said Wenger. “He is a good dribbler as well and is an intelligent mover. That makes him an interesting prospect.”
Insigne is really a class player. He is one of the brightest prospects in Europe at the moment and hopefully he will become one of the best in Europe under Benitez in coming years. Yeah, he is that talented.
Insigne plays on the left wing in Benitez’4-2-3-1 formation but can play on the other side of the flanks as well. Insigne’s greatest strength lies in his incisive passing as Wenger rightly points him out as a key cog in the Italian side’s well drilled machine that has the ability to quickly turn defence into attack.
With almost 88% passing accuracy this season, he is adept in creating chances for others. He has a terrific dribbling skill and has a great vision too. Along with Marek Hamsik, he is the central creative force in the side for Napoli. The youngster has recorded almost 100% accuracy in every time he attempted long balls that only suggests how efficient he is in the passing department.
Benitez’ team are usually good at playing the counter-attacking football. During his time at Liverpool, he made the Reds as one of the best counter-attacking sides in the world and a similar sort of approach has been taken at Napoli as well. With the likes of Insigne, Callejon and Hamsik – all dangerous creative players going upfront – Napoli creates panic at the opposition heart every time when they break through counter-attack.
And it certainly helps when the creative players are good at playing defence splitting passes, finding striker through long balls accurately and possess great dribbling (nightmare for full-backs) skills. Insigne possesses all of these qualities in one. Note, he is only 22 and has a bright future ahead of him. Wenger joked today saying Bacary Sagna will take care of Insigne but the Italian is more than capable of giving Sagna an uncomfortable game on the flanks.
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