Friday Poll: Should Italiano try Castrovilli on the wing?

Since cracking his body against the goalpost against Genoa and spending a couple of nights in a hospital, Gaetano Castrovilli hasn’t taken the field. In the past couple of days, however, he’s returned to training (albeit apart from the team), targeting a return against Spezia next week. This is obviously good news, first because he escaped serious injury (duh), but also because he has a skill set that nobody else on the tea possesses.

Vincenzo Italiano, however, doesn’t seem fully convinced by that skill set. He’s only started Tanino twice so far and seems much more comfortable with Giacomo Bonaventura and Alfred Duncan in those mezzala roles. Since they’ve helped Fiorentina dominate the middle of the pitch, it’s hard to argue with the mister’s conclusions, but it’s also a bad idea to leave an Italy international in his prime on the bench.

There’s been some talk about Castrovilli maybe slotting in on the wing. After all, he spent two seasons on the left for Cremonese in Serie B before latching onto a starting role in Florence a couple years ago. As a fantastic dribbler whose natural tendency is to drift wide, there’s certainly a case to be made for using him out there permanently, especially if it means maintaining continuity in the engine room. Furthermore, Italiano’s no stranger to reshaping a 10 to a wide role, as Riccardo Saponara can attest.

On the other hand, a lot of what makes Castrovilli useful is his ability to carry the ball through the middle and into the final third. Moving him out wide doesn’t play to that strength. The bigger problem, though, is that his end product is very uneven; he’s scored 8 goals in 2+ seasons in Florence and wouldn’t really take any defensive pressure away the other attackers.

Here’s your weekend thread. Stay loose.