Eamanuele Gaccherini is a 28 year old 5 foot 6 inch Italian international attacking midfielder/winger who has transferred from Juventus to Sunderland for £6.6m.

Background

Giaccherini has played for Cesena in Serie A and B and the last 2 years at  Juventus.  Last year he was unable to hold down a first team spot and made only 17 appearances although many of these were as sub and he only totalled 950 minutes.  He has also played 14 times for the national team including the recent Confederations Cup 

Giaccherini fits the mould of a Di Canio player perfectly in that he is an extremely hard worker on the pitch.  Selection problems at Juve were in some part down to his versatility, as he can play in the middle or out wide, although he often played in the center of the midfield where he faced significant competition.  In the Confederations cup he played out wide.  He has a good skill set to beat a man and can be direct in his running but also has the ability to keep the game moving with his passing.

stats

In Europe he’s played 4 matches for Juve last season without return.  He’s also played 14 times for the Italian national team over the last 2 seasons for 2 goals and 3 assists

Fantasy premier league perspective

Firstly lets cover gametime prospects.  Given his International pedigree and that he’s left Juventus it seems inconceivable that he’s left them for England without some pretty strong assurances that he would be playing every game.  I therefore can’t imagine he wont be in the GW1 line up. The question is where.  He could play on the left flank where James McLean was such a failure last year (albeit he did get back into the team at the end of the year.  The best outcome would be that he plays in the Sessegnon position just off the striker. I expect N’Diaye will be the certainty in central midfield.  Then possibly Larsson but I expect Di Canio to play someone behind the striker given how he sent out the team last year.  Sessegnon last year scored 7 goals and 6 assists in 35 games which is a goal or assist every 220 minutes.  Nothing flash and he compounded it by being sent off away to Villa.  I can really see Giacchaneri playing that role.

He definitely has some goal scoring potential.  Last year he scored 3 goals and 3 assists from 10 starts and 7 as sub which was a goal or assist every 160 minutes which is pretty good. Cazorlas was only slightly better at 1 every 150 minutes.  Whats more his underlying shooting and key pass stats were exceptional.

At £7.0m he is a little more expensive than I would have liked.  He’s the same price as more established players like Pienaar and Nolan.  He’s more expensive than other established players at £6.5m like Walters, Snodgrass and Osman.

The other issue I have at the moment is that I’m thinking to preserve funds that in midfield I will have 3 quality players say  Bale, Silva and Walcott and then 2 home and away rotating players who are maximum £5.0m each.  £7.0m Giaccerini doesnt fit in to that structure.

Sunderlands fixtures are ok at best.  I’ve ranked them as having the 9th easiest opening 6 games and then getting worse.

The fixtures are:

Fulham H,    Southampton A,  Crystal Palace A,   Arsenal H,  WBA  A,  Liverpool H

Summary

he has no game time issues, he has great scoring and assist potential and definitely has quality and pedigree.  He also has a great chance of playing behind the striker.  On the negative side he is a little expensive than I would have liked and the start is ok but not great.  Also, at the moment he doesnt fit in to how I want to structure my team.  There’s also the risk of the unkown.  I therefore haven’t ruled him out but I’m thinking it is more unlikely than likely.

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