With Torino’s president claiming to have rejected a £56m bid from Arsenal for Andrea Belotti, what might make the striker so attractive? __with the help of the player's former team-mates, Adam Bate profiles a man who has battled his way to the top…
'Belotti bid rejected'
Torino have rejected a £56m Arsenal bid for Andrea Belotti, according to Gianluca Petrachi.
Much is made of Arsene Wenger's penchant for plucking players from obscurity. Others buy stars but Arsenal create them, so the story goes. The recent signing of former factory worker Cohen Bramall from Hednesford Town would seem to illustrate the point.
Yet when it comes to record acquisitions, pedigree is the watchword. Thierry Henry's talents were honed at Highbury, but he was already a World Cup winner. When Wenger broke the record for Jose Antonio Reyes, Spain's boy wonder had already embarrassed Real Madrid.
Current record buy Mesut Ozil arrived from Real Madrid as a preordained superstar - a winner of La Liga and three-time German player of the year. But if reports of a £56m bid for Torino forward Andrea Belotti prove true, it represents a very different sort of player being tracked by Arsenal.
Success for Belotti was not so inevitable. He was not always tipped for the top. Instead, he has fought his way there, beating the odds to become an Italy international. The ability was there but it's the character and sheer effort that has seen him through.
Turned down by Atalanta as a teenager, Belotti's journey began in the modest environs of AlbinoLeffe. His debut came from the bench against Livorno in front of just 807 supporters in March 2012. AlbinoLeffe were bound for the drop and lost 4-1. But Belotti got his goal.
Only 18 at the time, the sacrifices were already being made. He recalls the nights he cried when friends would go partying while he stayed in, compelled to by the work ethic instilled in him by his father, a builder in Milan, who taught him to leave everything on the field.
Alessio Pala, who coached Belotti at AlbinoLeffe, recognised in him a near unique desire. He remembers a "rough and awkward" player but one who could score all kinds of goals. Pala likened him to a young Gianluca Vialli, although Fabio Cannavaro opts for Christian Vieri.
Fine figures one and all, but despite praising his intensity in training and super attitude, even Pala doubted that he could rise so fast so quickly. He still talks of there being room for technical improvement. And he did not envisage Belotti leading the line for the Azzurri.
Speaking to Anthony Taugourdeau, a team-mate at AlbinoLeffe, he expressed similar sentiments. "Belotti always had great desire to get as high as possible," he tells Sky Sports. "But as a young man, while already very good, I did not think he could get to these levels."
But Belotti never thought like that. "Limits, like fears, are often just illusions," reads the tattoo on his arm. So when Sampdoria came calling, he signed for Serie B side Palermo instead - confident he would get his big move in the end. Palermo were promoted as champions.
Strike partner Kyle Lafferty has fond memories of that season. "Although he was only young, he had the footballing brain of a senior pro," Lafferty tells Sky Sports. "A good listener, always willing to learn, he's a great character and would be great in any dressing room.
"He's an out-and-out striker who holds the ball up well, is great in the air and has a very good eye for goal. There's no reason why he can't make it in the Premier League as he's a willing worker and will go to great lengths to benefit the team."
Taugourdeau is also thrilled by Belotti's progress. "He is a simple guy and really humble," he adds. "He puts so much effort in and there's that devilment in all that he does. He deserves everything that is happening to him. I would be really happy for him if he went to Arsenal."
A picture builds of a man __with his feet on the ground. Even his comical goal celebration - 'the rooster' - is in honour of lifelong friend Juri Gallo (gallo meaning rooster in Italian). "It's a way of fighting back to those who say one day I'll get big headed," he explains.
There is reason to be big headed now. After failing to score in his first 10 games for Torino following a summer move in 2015, a goal against Bologna in November of that year sparked a turnaround. Belotti has since scored 28 goals in 42 appearances for club and country.
As well as his 13 Serie A goals this season, he has also created 33 chances for others, more than any other centre-forward in Italy. His speed unsettles defences, while his strength and determination can turn seemingly lost causes into openings for his side.
There are echoes of Jamie Vardy in that respect - even down to the knack of winning penalties - but Belotti eyes loftier comparisons. His idol is Andriy Shevchenko but he admits to wanting to emulate the dominance of Didier Drogba and the movement of Sergio Aguero.
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Far-fetched? It was Gian Piero Ventura, Belotti's old Torino coach and now his national team boss, who told him: "If you want it, you can do it." That chimes well with the player. "I am a person who always thinks about getting better," he says. "I never set myself limits."
It is this, his character, a quality for which Arsenal have been criticised, that is perhaps most likely to attract Wenger. It drew him to Vardy and even Lucas Perez. For while Belotti might not have been destined for the top, he got there anyway. And he's still getting better.