Di Natale: Is he underrated?

thepolice123

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I was looking at some stats earlier and came across Di Natale's. For the past four seasons he has averaged 25.75 goals per season. He is the first player to win back-to-back top scorer in the Serie A. In a league where there's a dearth in goalscorers, he is the only one who has consistently managed >20 goals every season (with Cavani being the other one). All that with a relatively average team.

I don't watch much of him but the numerous times I've watched him play for both Italy and Udinese, his qualities as a footballer always stood out. A very technically accomplished player and a terrific goalscorer. He can score with both feet, give him a half-chance and he will put it in the net . For his height he has that Hernandez knack of directing difficult balls into the net. Udinese usually plays him as the lone forward but he can play anyway along the front line, he has a very holistic approach to the game, he can get involved in the play and play a good pass, if things are not going well, he can play off the shoulder of the last man and poach in the box. For someone his age, he is pretty quick in the first 5 yards when taking on defenders. Something in his style is a reminiscent of the great Romario.

Yet he remains underrated by many. In a list of top ten forwards, seldom you get to see his name mentioned. Is it because Serie A is not as strong as it once was? Or am I overrating him?

 
I made a thread about him when I was still in the newbies he is one of the best finishers in Europe. people tend to underrate Italy so as a result achievements there are questioned. The same people question Cavani. He is a quality player so technical and clever terrific finisher. He is playing for his hometown and he does so well there the club suits him perfectly.
 
Top player. Fantastic technique, and a top bloke to boot for taking financial responsibility for Piermario Morosini's disabled sister after his death.
 
I remember watching the Euro 2012 Spain - Italy group-stage game, Italy had the upper-hand for the majority of the match but were lacking that cutting edge. Di Natale came on at the 56th minute, four minutes later he scored.



The movement itself made the goal. The moment Pirlo glided away from Busquets, you can see Di Natale fooling the Spanish defenders and breaking away. Once he was through there was only one outcome. What a finish it was.
 
Di Natale's great, but I think his reputation (in terms of being a household name) is hindered a little by the fact that he's not played for one of the Scudetto-chasing teams though. Also he's suffered for being a bit of a late-bloomer in comparison to his contemporaries, for example the year Totti won man of the match in the final of Euro 2000, Di Natale scored 6 league goals in Serie B. By the time he started racking up the impressive totals we've seen for the past 4 seasons he was 31 and I imagine was seen as too old to be Italy's front-man, or to be a viable target for a bigger club than Udinese (although frankly he'd have been brilliant business for someone like Juve in the last few seasons)
 
I've always rated him in the top 5 forwards in the world in the last 3-2 years, which he has deserved. He does get unnoticed due to playing for a smaller club and also the fact that Serie A hasn't attracted as much attention as the other 3 top leagues, but without a doubt he's one of the best goalscorers in the world.
 
It's difficult because he wasn't all that until he reached about 30 - a very unusual career trajectory.
 
JaffyJoe said:
He is playing for his hometown and he does so well there the club suits him perfectly.
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Only since he moved there, he's from the South, Naples.

Like others, I really wish he'd have moved to a club that built around his talent as opposed to relying on it to make money.
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/5912?cc=5739 said:
For a fourth straight season, Di Natale broke the 20-goal barrier in Serie A, a feat matched only by Gabriel Batistuta in the past half century. He has struck 103 times in the league during that time, a scoring rate bettered in Italy only by Gunnar Nordahl and Istvan Nyers between 1949 and 1953.
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LoveInTheAsylum said:
Only since he moved there, he's from the South, Naples.

Like others, I really wish he'd have moved to a club that built around his talent as opposed to relying on it to make money.
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Yeah I know the place is like his hometown and suits him perfectly he may not have done as well at one of the bigger clubs but I agree he really enjoyed an Indian summer career wise. I like him he is most probably highly rated in Italy. He struggled to replicate the form internationally.
 
Flying Fox said:
Top player. Fantastic technique, and a top bloke to boot for taking financial responsibility for Piermario Morosini's disabled sister after his death.
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Basically, reminds me a bit of Beppe Signori in terms of being a great striker who has never really made a step up to a better side to win trophies.
 
AldoRaine18 said:
I've always rated him in the top 5 forwards in the world in the last 3-2 years, which he has deserved. He does get unnoticed due to playing for a smaller club and also the fact that Serie A hasn't attracted as much attention as the other 3 top leagues, but without a doubt he's one of the best goalscorers in the world.
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Ibrahimovic, RvP, Cavani, Rooney, Falcao. Don't think he has performed better than either one of them.

Not berating him at all. Just that him not playing for a title winning team makes a telling difference in the status of a player.
 
Only underrated by people who are totally clueless tbh. He's been so fecking consistent in terms of goalscoring that it's hard to ignore him. He deserves some form of respect for being so loyal to his club
 
He hasn't made the step up to title winning sides mainly due to his own choice. If he wanted to, he could of been playing in a side that were competing and winning trophies, no two doubts about it. Funnily enough he's again being linked to Milan and I'd expect if he wanted the move, he could make it happen, yet he's loyal to Udinese and has said he'll see out his career with them, which also rubbishes the silly notion some people have that there's no loyalty or genuine players in the game anymore.

While Udinese have been one of Italy's biggest talent factories, Di Natale has basically been an exception to that. Could of also left for Juve a while back. He's basically the spine for Udinese and that makes him one of the most crucial players in the league.

Quality player, great guy.
 
He isn't underrated. He's just not rated yet. Few people watch Serie A. Not even sure we have more than a couple of Italians posting and they aren't very active so little hands on information comes from there.

I've only seen him in Europe and with Italy and he hasn't been all that. Besides that I have only stats and they are useless without anything substantial to go along with them.

I don't buy it that it's much harder to score in Serie A. That's a thing of the past. Looking at the top scorers there have been in the last 4 season; 2, 3, 4 and 2 players that have scored more than 20 goals in a season. Similar to the PL wherein one season no player managed to score more than 20. It might be a tad more difficult because teams are more passive and aren't as quick to counter-attack but that's about it. Also about quality. Milan and Juventus haven't had a proper striker for years.
 
coolredwine said:
Ibrahimovic, RvP, Cavani, Rooney, Falcao. Don't think he has performed better than either one of them.

Not berating him at all. Just that him not playing for a title winning team makes a telling difference in the status of a player.
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He's certainly been more consistent than Rooney out of that list. He might not necessarily be an all-round better footballer, I haven't really seen enough of him in comparison to Rooney to judge on that, but he's certainly been a lot more consistent in front of goal and I wouldn't question someone putting him ahead of Rooney personally.
 
Snow said:
He isn't underrated. He's just not rated yet. Few people watch Serie A. Not even sure we have more than a couple of Italians posting and they aren't very active so little hands on information comes from there.

I've only seen him in Europe and with Italy and he hasn't been all that. Besides that I have only stats and they are useless without anything substantial to go along with them.

I don't buy it that it's much harder to score in Serie A. That's a thing of the past. Looking at the top scorers there have been in the last 4 season; 2, 3, 4 and 2 players that have scored more than 20 goals in a season. Similar to the PL wherein one season no player managed to score more than 20. It might be a tad more difficult because teams are more passive and aren't as quick to counter-attack but that's about it. Also about quality. Milan and Juventus haven't had a proper striker for years.
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That's the whole point though. If he isn't rated then he has to be underrated. Yes, we're naturally not going to talk about Serie A players as much but Di Natale really is hardly mentioned at all by anyone when it comes to discussions of the world's best strikers.

His record for Italy isn't as impressive but international football isn't the best way to particularly judge a player. Plenty of players have poor international records in comparison.

Whether it's harder to score in Serie A or not, his record over the past four years is still superb. The man's been a consistent scorer for 6 seasons now; only in one of those seasons in the league has he not managed at least a goal every 2 games and even that year he was very close. Not many top European strikers have that sort of consistency.
 
No it's not. If he isn't rated, that is his quality hasn't been assessed, then he isn't underrated. It would be like giving the Godfather 3 stars out of 5 without watching it. Doesn't make sense.

Again, he hasn't been seen because people don't watch Serie A and Udinese have done a poor job of appearing in the CL so no one has really gotten to see him there either. He's also not a preferred starter with Italy and hasn't showcased any extraordinary skills there.

I'm not going to look at his tally in the last years and start listing him among the top strikers.

On paper he is similar to Forlán. Playing well in the league for a team that's about 4th-8th in the league but not cutting it with bigger clubs. Forlán however has been top drawer with Uruguay on the biggest stage of football.
 
Flying Fox said:
Top player. Fantastic technique, and a top bloke to boot for taking financial responsibility for Piermario Morosini's disabled sister after his death.
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He's on some 30k too, to help his club financially. Great human being and a great footballer.
 
What a volly! He is best in the world at finishing with a volly and is overall a great player. He bloomed very late, so that is probably the reason he never get the credit he deserves, he is a top player, no doubt about that!
 
Huge fan of him as a player, but as a late bloomer people always presume his age will catch up him this season - and then he has another great one. Which is why people probably don't think about him as top bracket.
 
He's come of age at a time when Serie A has been on the decline. For those who regularly watch and follow Serie A, he's not underrated at all and the fact that top clubs in Italy notably Juventus are still willing at age 35 to buy him, shows how well regarded he is.

Playing for a club like Udinese doesn't help, but another thing that hasn't helped has been his failure on the international stage. 11 goals in 42 appearances for a player of his caliber isn't good enough and he's shockingly never really shined for the National team or even been a key figure.
 
JaffyJoe said:
I made a thread about him when I was still in the newbies he is one of the best finishers in Europe. people tend to underrate Italy so as a result achievements there are questioned. The same people question Cavani. He is a quality player so technical and clever terrific finisher. He is playing for his hometown and he does so well there the club suits him perfectly.
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I remember that thread, was a good'un.

Class act on the pitch and off. The only reason I can see for him not being rated as much as he should be, is that he never made the move to Juve, or Milan or someone, and surely now never will(by choice, that is).
 
Cheesy said:
He's certainly been more consistent than Rooney out of that list. He might not necessarily be an all-round better footballer, I haven't really seen enough of him in comparison to Rooney to judge on that, but he's certainly been a lot more consistent in front of goal and I wouldn't question someone putting him ahead of Rooney personally.
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Yes. But then there is Tevez, Aguero, Lewadonski in that list too in the past 2-3 seasons where they have performed quite well for a better side.

Not that I am berating him, like I said earlier. Just that he should have had made the step up earlier. It's similar to Suarez at Liverpool.
 
Earthquake said:
I remember that thread, was a good'un.

Class act on the pitch and off. The only reason I can see for him not being rated as much as he should be, is that he never made the move to Juve, or Milan or someone, and surely now never will(by choice, that is).
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I agree doing the same things at a bigger club really is the test isn't it. We have seen many be prolific at the smaller clubs and struggle at the bigger ones despite being talented players.
 
Just watched that clip in the OP.

fecking hell, some of those finishes are insane. How old is he now? 35?
 
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