Simone Lo Faso Needs To Play Before It’s Too Late

In the world of sports, there are different ways to stunt the development of different players. From the age of 16-23 they are in the learning phase and need to be nurtured. This can be the time when a player goes from being a prospect to a world class talent or just another bust. Fiorentina over the years have managed to find a way to either create wonderful talent and ship them off to the highest bidder or give up on players too soon. In the case of recently transferred Ianis Hagi, Fiorentina gave up too soon on a player that showed to have potential to be a top player in Europe. Then there was Federico Bernardeschi that cut his teeth in Florence and was shipped to big, bad Juventus because they gave the most money. Other young players like Bartolomiej Dragowski and Rafik Zekhnini are not getting the playing time at any level to see what they really can do.

There is another player on the roster that has a lot of promise, but has only received one chance in a Serie A game to show his skills. That is Simone Lo Faso. Lo Faso is a curious case because he is currently on loan at Fiorentina from Palermo. There is an option to buy Lo Faso at the end of the loan too. Meaning Fiorentina should really see what they have in the player before they decide to sign him long term. At the ripe age of 20, he actually just turned 20 on February 18th, Lo Faso is still raw and needs a lot of work.

He had one appearance this season as a substitute against Benevento, a team trying to dig themselves out of the relegation zone. During that game he was fast, drew some fouls, and honestly looked like he had a lot of promise. That game was on October 22, 2017. We sit here in February and haven’t seen the Sicilian forward again. If the team was in first place on the verge of winning a scudetto, it would be a different story. Fiorentina is currently 11th on the table and is showing no signs of jumping up the ladder. It is time to play the kids and play them often.

There are 13 games left in the season. Play all of the young players and see how they react. The days of watching Milan Badelj, Cyril Thereau, and probably Davide Astori should be over. These are players that are more useful to other teams at this point. Fiorentina is in a rebuild and need to find out which young players can contribute now and in the future. If the team did not take a chance and let Federico Chiesa play he would not be regarded as one of the top young talents in Europe.

The team is having issues scoring goals, maybe Lo Faso can help with that. The eye test shows that he is a creative player with a lot of pace. He can play on either wing, as well as in the central midfield, and striker. 20 year olds are making an impact across Europe because their managers gave them a chance. Lo Faso could be a breath of fresh air in an offense that is stale at best. Plus Palermo did not send Lo Faso to the Serie A on a loan for no reason. He would have been starting in Serie B for Palermo. The kid needs to play because the season is essentially lost at this point.