Napoli’s infamous Scampia quarter, widely recognisable by its deteriorating Vele di Scampia housing estate, is an area of the city most known for its crime-ridden streets, drug trade and gang wars – this coupled with a lack of police presence has made what was once intended to be a vibrant community in the North of the city into what many would call a ghetto. It’s to this rugged backdrop of disparity that grew up young midfielder Rolando Mandragora, the next in the line to come out of a Genoa academy which has produced the likes of Mattia Perin and Stephan El Shaarawy.

From a young age, football was a central part of Rolando’s life – his uncle Bruno was a noted coach in the Campania region while his dad also worked in football – though for Mandragora it wasn’t such an easy road as it would have seemed.While he started out at a local club, like seemingly so many of his generation he was rejected by a whole host of clubs – Atalanta, Palermo, Roma and Juve, who all saw a lack of physicality in him – before finally being given his chance at a Genoa. He later claimed that he had practically done a ‘Giro d’Italia’ at the age of 14.

While he has been loaned out to Serie B’s Pescara this season – just as Perin was – in order to make a name for himself and hone in on the skills needed for him to compete at a professional level, it’s on the 17th of October last season that he announced himself to the footballing community. At the age of 17, Gasperini – Genoa coach – decided to throw this inexperienced youngster into the deep end by starting him against the mighty Juventus. To add to this, Mandragora himself was only notified of his selection in the starting eleven moments before the start of the match – a decision which he applauded, as it left no time for the nerves to set in – he didn’t even have time to call his parents about it. In the 70 minutes he played, while there was a notable gap in terms of physicality, the Neapolitan put in a decent performance, himself stating that his confidence grew over the course of the game after a couple of successful challenges. While he didn’t show himself to be anywhere near a finished product, it was a performance which inspired hope for Genoa in their young midfielder. Showing humility, he went on to thank his team mates and the fans for facilitating his introduction to Serie A football – a match where he went face to face with Paul Pogba and showed the country his promise.

By the end of the season, having played 5 games with the senior side in the league, Mandragora was still very much a raw prospect, though with high ambitions nonetheless. In a recent interview with Canale Genoa, when asked to define his role on the pitch, he insisted on his capacity as a midfielder who specialises in breaking up developing attacks, although he acknowledged his lack of dynamism as a possible limiting factor in this. Often regarded as an heir to Thiago Motta, one of the young man’s childhood idols along with Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, it is clear to see where his future lies in terms of his position of the field – nevertheless, his capacity to adapt to different positions has been a notable strength in his development.

Overall, the man from Scampia, who himself has downplayed the denigrating image given to the area by media, seems to be one of the great hopes for the future in Italian football and Genoa [Juve Now] – and his sharp rise into professional football has not gone unnoticed. He has also been praised for his fairly mature attitude on the pitch, with Genoa president Preziosi claiming he has the ‘head of a 30 year old’ , while also concurring with the opinion that he is the next Thiago Motta. Nevertheless, Mandragora himself prefers to use former team mate, now gone to Milan, Andrea Bertolacci as a point of reference.

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Update: Mandragora has now earned himself a move to Juventus, and while he is still on loan at Pescara for the remainder of the season there is a strong chance he could get opportunities in Turin in the coming seasons.