Rolando Mandragora Scouting Report At FC Crotone 2018/2019 – Player Analysis

Rolando Mandragora has been highly touted for several years.

The midfielder has been tipped as a possible first-team player for Juventus.

After a strong season at Crotone, there has been growing support for the youngster to be part of the squad already next season.

Given his performances at FC Crotone this term, arguing against that thought is hard.

Mandragora has been sublime, impressing with superb passing ability and a strong defensive contribution for the Pitagorici.

Lets look at the extremely gifted 20-year-old.

Rolando Mandragora Background

Mandragora was born in Naples in June 1997.

He started out at the Cannavaro brothers football school, which his father headed.

At 14, he moved to Liguria and signed for Genoas youth academy.

He quickly rose through Genoas ranks and eventually made his Serie A debut in October 2014.

The then 17-year-old started Genoas clash with reigning champions Juventus.

After earning another four Serie A appearances for the Grifone over the next year, Juventus signed him in January 2016.

Juve immediately loaned the talented midfielder to Serie B side Pescara.

The midfielder made 26 appearances for Pescara before a metatarsal fracture in April 2016.

That injury kept him out of action for a long time since it needed surgery twice, three months apart.

That destroyed his 2016/17 season.

He did make his Juventus debut at the end of the campaign, though, against Genoa.

This season, Mandragora was loaned to Crotone and has been a mainstay for the Pitagorici.

The midfielder has started 34 games so far and has been consistently impressive.

With the season-ending shortly, it will be interesting to see where he ends up next season.

Rolando Mandragora Creative passing

Recently, Mandragora has mostly played as a defensive midfielder in a 4-3-3. His main strength is his range of passing.

He sits at the back of the midfield and looks to get on the ball to construct attacks.

Crotone plays quite a direct game, often bypassing midfield, so his influence could have been higher in a more possession-focused approach.

This direct approach has clear benefits which help Mandragora develop though.

The emphasis on playing the ball forward quickly forces the Italian to be progressive in his passing.

He constantly looks for teammates moving forward and tries to pick them out.

His fantastic long-range passing is one key component in his style of play at Crotone.

The Neapolitan has an excellent touch and can spray the ball incisively over large distances.

Below, Mandragora has possession on the left of midfield.

He spots the weak point in Milans defensive structure and pings the ball to his teammate running in behind.

In the below scene, Mandragora shows off his impressive quick-thinking and understanding of in-game situations.

He picks up a poor Inter pass and immediately identifies the high positioning of three Inter defenders (highlighted in blue).

He quickly plays a vertica