An Important 5 Months For 'Kiko' Macheda

Seldom has a player had such an important impact on their first team debut than Federico ‘Kiko’ Macheda. The run-in for the Premier League title was fully underway. The two previous weeks Manchester United had been beaten. First up was a 4-1 drubbing against arch rivals Liverpool. This was followed up by an equally lacklustre defeat away to Fulham. Their hated rivals Liverpool were now hot on their heels, looking to end a wait of 19 years without a league title. It was Sunday 5^th April 2009, and Manchester United was trailing again, this time at home to Aston Villa. Injuries meant that there was no Wayne Rooney or Dimitar Berbatov to call upon. Alex Ferguson had to take a gamble. In the 61^st minute, Ferguson’s gamble was to replace his £17m signing Nani with an untested 17 year old. The gamble as we all know paid off. With a little help from Ronaldo, United ran out 3-2 winners with Macheda scoring a memorable injury time winner. A goal which swung the title pendulum firmly in United’s favour. A week later, Macheda rose from the bench again and scored the winning goal against Sunderland.

Since his heroics at the end of the 2008/9 season, his progress has been somewhat stunted. Much of the 2009/10 season was a write off for Macheda due to injury. The main highlights of the season for him were his Champions League debut against CSKA Moscow and coming off the bench against Chelsea, to score what proved to be a consolation goal in the defining game of the season. The 2010/11 season has seen Macheda involved in the first team on a more regular basis, with 5 starts and 7 appearances as a substitute. With the return of Michael Owen, Ferguson deemed that the best route for Macheda to get some experience would be to go out on loan, with Sampdoria being the chosen club.

I can’t help but feel that Macheda is now approaching a crossroads in his career. Although he is still only 19 years of age, he now needs to begin to deliver on the early promise that he has shown. It is perhaps a little strange that an Italian club has been chosen to prepare a player for a future in English football. It draws obvious parallels with the pr evious Italian youngster who was brought into the Manchester United academy, Giuseppe Rossi. Rossi was brought into the Manchester United academy at the age of 16, and much like Macheda, he was a stand out player, scoring countless goals at b oth youth and reserve level. At the age of 19, Rossi was sent out on loan to his boyhood club Parma, whom he helped avoid relegation with 9 goals in 19 games. The success of this loan spell indicated that Rossi was more than capable of cutting it at the highest level. He was then swiftly sold for a fee in the region of £6.6m. The competition at Manchester United was deemed too much with Carlos Tevez joining Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha to form a potent and established attacking trio. The same problem is going to be faced by Macheda on his return to Manchester. The current striking options are; Wayne Rooney (last season’s English player of the year), Dimitar Berbatov (the leading goalscorer in the league this season) and Javier Hernandez (Mexican international). Michael Owen will probably be released on a free transfer, but there is also Daniel Welbeck who is returning to the cl ub. It is hard to see where Macheda fits in, at least on a regular basis.

Macheda’s main strength is quite obvious, he is an excellent finisher. If the ball falls to him inside the box, then he is more than likely going to find the net.

However, his all-round game is in need of some improvement. Currently, he is a more effective player coming off the bench, than he is starting games. All 4 of his goals for Manchester United were scored when he came on as substitute. The problem he has at Manchester United is that they have a more effective player doing this role in Javier H

ernandez. When Macheda has started games, they have often passed him by. He is unable to play the lone striker role that Ferguson has tried him in a few times. He neither has the pace to play the role, nor the ability to hold the ball up. The ability to hold the ball will probably come with time, the pace won’t. Therefore, it is imperative that he is played with a partner. In this sense, the move to Sampdoria makes sense with Di Carlo’s favoured formation being a 4-4-2. The chances will need to be created though. Whilst Macheda is an

excellent finisher, he isn’t going to go on a mazy run and score any wonder goals. Most of his work is done inside the area. The areas of his game that I feel he needs to be working on are his upper body strength (natural for someone of his age), his first touch and his heading ability. His decision making is generally quite good, but his passing does let him down at times.

It will be an interesting and important 5 months for Macheda. He needs to look at the impact that Daniel Welbeck has had during his spell out on loan. Macheda and Welbeck formed a deadly partnership at both youth and reserve levels. Whilst Welbeck has always looked the better all-round player, Macheda stole the limelight with his heroics at the end of the 2008/9 season. There is no question that Welbeck has now pushed on to another level, whilst Macheda has been left kicking his heels. In part that is probably to be expected. Welbeck is half a year older than Macheda and is a more versatile player, which gives him more opportunity to play games. Macheda is much more one dimensional. As much as they are team mates, in a sense they are also rivals. Welbeck will probably be 4^th choice striker upon his return to Old Trafford, which will leave Macheda 5^th and lacking in games. It may be that Macheda also spends next season out on loan. But for however long his loan lasts, he needs to make this time count and it needs to be a success. In the case of Giuseppe Rossi, even that wasn’t enough.