PROFILE | Marco Verratti: If you don’t love PSG’s Little Owl, you don’t love football
This is taken from the GFFN 100, our leading 150-page FREE publication ranking the best 100 players in France, see the full list and read every profile right here.
In modern football, it’s rare for players to stay at one club for a decade. It’s even rare for a player to see out their contract. Occasionally, however, a player stays long enough to endear himself to a club’s fans and reach the status of a legend. At PSG, Marco Verratti has done just that.
It’s not too long ago that Verratti celebrated his tenth anniversary as a PSG, having joined as a 19-year-old from Serie B side Pescara after achieving promotion to Serie A with his local club. Verratti’s talent had always been obvious. Likened to former Italy, Juventus and AC Milan midfield maestro Andrea Pirlo, the now-30-year-old was asked to join the youth academies of Atalanta and Inter, while Milan offered Pescara €300,000 for his services, only for Juventus fan Verratti to turn them down.
Alongside fellow future internationals Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne, under the tutelage of the famously gung-ho Zdenek Zeman, Verratti and Pescara blew Serie B away. Verratti was nicknamed Guefetto or the ‘Little Owl’, mainly due to his large eyes but also because he was so busy on the ball, unlike the serene Pirlo, it looked like his head could swivel 360 degrees.
The plan in Italy for Verratti was simple. He’d join Juventus, play understudy to Pirlo and go on to lead the national team in a similar fashion. However, PSG sporting director Leonardo loved shopping in Italy and had other ideas. Zlatan Ibrahimović, Thiago Silva, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edison Cavani all arrived in Paris from Serie A whilst Leonardo was in charge and the Brazilian wasn’t about to let Verratti getaway. Juventus knew that, despite their deep pockets within Italian football, they weren’t prepared to outbid PSG for Verratti and opted for Paul Pogba from Manchester United instead.
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Verratti wasn’t a superstar like the others, he hadn’t even played in Serie A, leading L’Équipe to ask: “Who are you, Marco Verratti?” Few in France had heard of this Serie B starlet. Zlatan Ibrahimović vouched for his talent, but he had to win the fans over. His second league appearance at the Parc des Prince against Toulouse saw him assist Javier Pastore and play a key role in the other goal for a 2-0 win. He was substituted with seven minutes left to a standing ovation. After just two games, the PSG faithful were Verratti converts. Managed by a coach who was a key influence on Pirlo, fellow Italian Carlo Ancelotti, settling in for Verratti was easier than it was for most. Ancelotti knew how to harness the teenage Verratti’s talent and a lot of the squad already spoke Italian.
Ancelotti wanted to take Verratti to Real Madrid as his PSG replacement, Laurent Blanc, and his interest in midfielder Yohan Cabaye gave the impression that he wasn’t pleased with Verratti’s risk-taking or his now-infamous yellow card collection, but PSG stuck with Verratti. He was the perfect fit in midfield alongside Thiago Motta and Blaise Matuidi, one of the most balanced in Europe at that time and perhaps Paris’ best midfield trio of the QSI era, and Verratti kept improving.
PSG weren’t the same without their Little Owl. Take the 2015 Champions League quarter-final against Barcelona. Verratti was suspended and PSG lined up with Matuidi, Adrien Rabiot and Cabaye in midfield up against Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitić and Andres Iniesta. Barcelona ran the midfield and won 3-1.
Frustrating losses of possession in key areas were slowly being eradicated, replaced by a skill which he has now mastered – luring opponents in to press him, only to either skip past them or play a pass that no one else saw. With the original trio of Matuidi, Verratti and Motta now broken up, Verratti is the senior player in the middle for PSG and the perfect modern midfielder in 2022 – when he stays fit and isn’t suspended. If you need someone to drop deep and start moves, Marco can do it. If you need someone to sit and break up attacks, Marco can do it. Someone to play killer through balls? Marco can do it.
Although the furore surrounding PSG’s glamourous front three has dominated in Paris, 2022 has been one of Verratti’s best years in his decade as a Ligue 1 player, only missed eight games all year, four through injury and four via suspension. His tenacity in midfield, scrappy dribbling and typically glorious passing and vision have provided the spark for PSG’s unbeaten start under Christophe Galtier with the Italian finding the consistency which has often been missing in a stop-start career to date.
Up to the World Cup break in November, Verratti made the top ten across Europe’s leading five divisions for passes into the final third (6th), progressive passes (4th), tackles won (9th), blocks (6th), touches (3rd) and pass completion (7th), underlining his dual ability to protect and create. This season has also reinforced Verratti’s statistical quirks. Another nine yellow cards mean he’s been booked 136 times in 398 PSG games, or one every 2.9 games for ten years. The Italian is also yet to score in 20 games this term, and only scored twice last season – a double against Reims before which he was encouraged to shoot more often by Lionel Messi. As a result Verratti has just 11 goals over nearly 400 games for PSG in all competitions.
Over the last decade, there’s a case to be made for Verratti being one of the best midfielders in the world. He’s lacking the Champions League trophies of Toni Kroos, Luka Modrić, Xavi Hernandez and Iniesta but he’s not far behind in terms of ability and has been held back by an atrocious injury record. Either way, Verratti is adored by fans and admired by those who truly understand the game. Pep Guardiola once said he was “in love” with Verratti and if you don’t love Marco Verratti, there’s a high chance you don’t love football.
Tom Scholes