When Kenan Yildiz latched onto the ball on the left side, raced forward, dropped the shoulder to cut inside past a PSV Eindhoven defender, and then curled beautifully into the far top tight corner of the net, every single Juventus fan in attendance at the Allianz Stadium or at home on their sofa stood up and shouted the same thing:
“Del Pierooooo!”
And while this was a Freudian slip, it was a pretty damn understandable one.
First off, the goal was scored by a player donning Juve’s famous number ten jersey – something synonymous with club icon Alessandro Del Piero.
It was also a ‘Il Gol Alla Del Piero’, and put up side-by-side on social media with the legendary Juve forward’s famous strike against Steaua Bucharest, aside from the obvious advances in video camera quality, it was pretty hard to find a difference in the footage.
Yildiz played into the expected comparisons too, sticking out his tongue in celebration in the same way that Del Piero did after pretty much all of his 290 goals for La Vecchia Signora.
Comparisons between Juventus’ new number ten and their greatest number ten don’t begin and end with that wonder strike; which set Thiago Motta’s side on their way to an impressive 3-1 win over PSV.
From the very first day that he arrived at Juve from Bayern Munich aged 17, the Turkish youngster has been touted as the ‘next Del Piero’.
It’s been a billing that’s weighed a bit too heavy on pretenders to the throne in the past. Sebastian Giovinco, while he had a good career, never reached the Del Piero level that Juve fans hoped he would. Nor did it quite work out for the likes of academy graduates Davide Lanzafame, or Filippo Boniperti – despite the lineage. And thanks to injuries taking their toll, Paulo Dybala and Federico Chiesa never quite made it into ‘Juventus legend’ status either.
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) September 17, 2024
This time, with Yildiz, things feel a bit different.
The manner in which the club are putting emphasis on the youngster is a clear indication of that.
Having impressed when given sporadic minutes under previous manager Massimiliano Allegri last season, the bumper new long-term contract and the number 10 jersey it came with are signs that the club’s hierarchy have sought to build their new look squad around the Turkey international – despite him being just 19 years old.
And so far, that’s looked like a smart decision.
Yildiz has thrived in this new role as the club’s star man, playing like he’s enjoying the burden of the billing as the ‘next Del Piero’.
Proof of that can be found in the fact that he’s already breaking some of Del Piero’s long-held records at the club – most recently becoming Juve’s youngest ever Champions League starter and goalscorer in the win over PSV Eindhoven.
It can also be found in his performance levels in Serie A in the first few weeks of the 2024/25 season. While he has yet to score a league goal, the number ten has been the focal point of basically every single Juve attack, regularly drifting past opposition players and feeding the ball to his teammates in dangerous areas – as his two assists in four starts attest.
When he does finally find the net in Serie A, expect Juve fans to once again stand up and exclaim:
“Del Pierooooo!”
And perhaps take that utterance as less of a Freudian slip, and a bit more like when Stilgar – Javier Bardem’s character – in Dune Two shouts “Lisan Al Gaib!” every time Paul Atreides – Timothee Chalamet’s character – did literally anything.
For the exclamation of “Del Pierooooo!” whenever Yildiz scores will essentially be Juve fans shouting “Lisan Al Gaib!”, hailing Yildiz as the second coming of their greatest ever player.
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