Date: 30th November 2009 at 2:10pm
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Last July, just days after being beaten to the signature of by Arsenal, Manchester United announced they had signed . Their signing of the then 16 year old infuriated his old club AS Roma who accused United of stealing him from under their noses and having scored 14 goals in 19 appearances that season they had every reason to be.

In Italy a full adult contract can’t be offered until a player reaches the age of 17 so when United signed the best player in Roma’s illustrious youth system and only paid £200,000 compensation, Il Romanista, a newspaper dedicated to Roma declared,

“Manchester United has dealt us another low blow, stealing Petrucci from under our noses, probably the best product of our youth system. In three to four years, he will be worth 100 times as much.”

Such an outburst may have seemed a touch melodramatic but when you have seen him play, you will know why they were so upset.

He was part of the United youth team that won the 2008 Milk Cup in Northern Ireland and scored 5 in 14 youth team appearances helping United finish 2nd behind Man City in his first season. He also got a run out in the reserves scoring a notable free kick against Accrington Stanley in his 6 appearances.

He was included in Manchester United’s Champions League squad in February along with despite having not made a first team appearance but unfortunately was sidelined by groin and hip problems thought to be the product of growing pains towards the end of the season. The injuries carried on into this season but he finally returned in a youth game against Wolverhampton in October. He continued his comeback in United’s youth team 3-1 victory over Liverpool on the 21st November and 3 days later he made an appearance for the reserves as they ran out 2-1 winners over Hull.

Petrucci is an excellent play maker with the vision and passing that makes him an integral part of attacking play. His technique is outstanding and as well as being a creator of goals, he can score them too. The fact he was being hailed as Roma’s potential replacement for Totti shows how highly they regarded him.

his manager at youth level remarked:

“Davide is an all-round midfield player. He does a bit of everything: he can win the ball, distribute it well, a good range of creative passing and he has a hell of a shot on him. He likes to shoot as well and he has the potential to score plenty of goals from midfield, either with a long range shot or bursting into the box to score with his feet or from a header.”

Whilst his manager at reserve level said:

“He is technically and tactically very gifted. He scores some great free kicks and goals. He scores the kind of goals you would put on a DVD because he is capable of the spectacular.”

His progress is being keenly watched by the United fans that do know of him and if he does manage to turn out like Totti, I think they will be very pleased.

 

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