Italy and France are a long footballing love story. But France has not only known the crème de la crème of transalpine players. The proof.
Stephan El Shaarawy
We often forget it, but the Pharaoh did indeed play in France. Not very long, of course. With 3 small goals in 24 appearances for Monaco in 2015, the good Stephan did not make a strong impression. The Rock will remember a player far from his highest level, of incredible poverty and of a memorable but slightly old-fashioned crest. The one who was supposed to be the star of the team will therefore remain a huge failure for the Monegasque club. The player, for his part, will have a little cherry on top by subsequently signing for Rome, his future club of heart.
Daniele Rugani
Lacking playing time with Juventus, the Italian international (7 caps, all the same) was loaned for a season to Stade Rennais in 2020. He would stay there for six months and only play two matches. Thanks for stopping by, Daniele.
Stefano Torrisi
The only cape of this rough central defender with Italy? A match against the Blues in 1997. It was therefore logical that the good Stefano left the boot to try the adventure in France. This is what he did in 2002 by leaving Parma for Marseille. With OM, he only played two games as a starter. His first match was against FC Nantes, during which he unintentionally diverted a Nantes strike in the 36th minute into his own net, then scored an own goal with a header in the 38th minute. Quite a performance. “In Marseille, I was terrible, that’s all! » he admitted in 2016 to So Foot. No, but lucid.
Pietro Pellegri
A prodigy. A gifted one. A crackito. A nugget. A star in the making. A wonderkid. A great future. An immense hope. The next generation. There was no shortage of superlatives to evoke Pellegri’s potential. In 2016, he made his debut with Genoa, replacing Tomás Rincón in the 88th minute of play. At the age of 15 years and 280 days, he equaled the record for the youngest player to take part in a Serie A match. Quick, big and technical: that’s all it takes to convince Monaco. 25 sticks later, the young player joined the Principality. In 2018, at 16 years and 336 days, Pellegri, against Dijon, became the youngest AS Monaco player to play in a French championship match for 40 years and thus surpassed Kylian Mbappé by only 11 days (16 years and 347 days). Unfortunately, what happens next is much less sexy. Pubalgia after pubalgia, injury after injury and the scorer can no longer do it. A body already worn out at not even 20 years old. Despite his return to Italy, nothing works: since 2021 he has only played around fifty matches for 6 goals. Pietro, it’s too much.
Morgan De Saints
At 39, the Udinese legend had a little fun and decided to sign for Monaco to become Subasic’s understudy in 2016. He was injured during his first match, after 12 minutes. He hardly played again this season but was still crowned champion of France with ASM at the end of the season, before wisely hanging up his crampons after a long and successful career.
Paolo De Ceglie
Despite many candidates for the position, the Italian hands down wins the title of worst left back to pass through OM. Arriving from Juventus on loan, the player only played 12 (catastrophic) matches with the Blue and White. Slow, outdated, and not very technically skilled, he never knew how to shine on the Canebière and even inherited the nickname “Paolo de Sanglier”. We know how to laugh in Marseille.
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