So, listen to this… Have you ever wondered if out there, there’s
someone as good as Messi who just hasn't been discovered? You know… like some hidden talent who managed
to avoid every scout and is living a mediocre life away from the spotlight, shocking every
one who gets a glimpse of his talent but never quite making it to the top? I know that could feel like a legend, nothing
more than a fairy tale, but well…. just look at players like Carlos Bacca, who
was selling fish in a market and working as a bus driver at the age of 24… only to become
a two time europa league winner 4 years later, being arguably the player of the tournament
in one of them… Hearing a story like that should be enough
to convince you that those players exist… and well, there’s one player who embodies
that theory like no other… I’m talking about Davide Moscardelli… I had never gotten so many requests to make
a video on a player who spent most of his career playing in the third tier… but I
mean it’s no wonder he generates this much hype, the guy is one of the strangest characters
to ever grace this sport and easily one of the most talented… you go searching for info about him and the
first few things that come up are articles with flashy titles like “Too good for the
Ballon D’Or”... then you go and watch his compilations and you’re completely floored
by the incredible skills he’s capable of pulling off … and in every video, everyone
seems as impressed as you, with the comment section claiming “It’s like Messi and
Zlatan had a child together”... others claiming he never reached the top because he “just
couldn’t be bothered with the scrutiny that comes with that… You’re left wondering what actual football
legends would think of him, you dig for more info and you find that Costacurta, one of
the greatest defenders of all time, once watched him play and even he said “He plays as beautifully
as Messi or Maradona”... And just like that, out of nowhere you’re
hooked, and so was I… I needed to know more about Davide Moscardelli….and
you know what?…. he seems to have that effect on people, between his skills and the beard…
you just gotta know more about him…. but the man is a complete mystery to most… and
trust me it took me a long time to find out all of this information about him, but it
was worth it… right from the start the man surprises you… because you know what? Davide Moscardelli is Belgian… Okay…Okay… Obviously a guy with a name as cool as that,
has to be Italian and you’re right… The only reason he holds a belgian passport
is that at the time of his birth, his father, who was a pilot for the Italian Air Force,
was deployed in Belgium… In reality, from what I figured out, he doesn’t
even have any memory of being in Belgium, his earliest memories consist of him and his
family wandering the streets of Rome on their way to the Stadio Olimpico, because you guessed
it… they were all complete AS Roma fanatics… In fact, something that might surprise you,
considering Moscardelli’s talent managed to go unnoticed for so long is that he himself
played for AS Roma when he was a child… Not only did he play there for 2 years, but
he was coached by the great Bruno Conti himself and he was even allowed to step foot into
the Stadio Olimpico, working as a ballboy… So why did everyone at Roma fail to notice
how good he was? Sadly, the answer is very simple… They played him in defense, never allowing
him to go forward no matter how much he wanted to express his talent… which eventually
led him to leave the club… However, the problem remained, because of
his height, no club ever gave much of a shot at playing as a winger, and he eventually
conformed to his role as striker… And so… With the decision to leave Roma still heavily
affecting his career progression, Moscardelli debuted at 17 years of age for Maccarese…
in the 7th division of Italian football… Honestly I think, by then, he had pretty much
accepted that a career in football wouldn’t be for him… He was playing at such a low level that he
claims he used to play for his team on sunday morning, have lunch and then join the ultras
at the Stadio Olimpico… Cheering for Totti and Batistuta, still dreaming
of one day being one of them… However, he was wrong to think he had no chance
back then… because only a little more than a year after leaving Maccarese, not only had
he been signed by a first division team, but he would be getting compared to Batisuta himself…. Okay, hear me out… After 4 years at his first club, at 22 years
of age, Moscardelli had not only helped them get promoted but had impressed enough to earn
a move to another minor team in the outskirts of Rome, Guidonia Villanova, in the fifth
division… In fact, they were so excited to get him on
the pitch at his new club that they even risked playing him before they had properly registered
him, getting caught red handed and being punished with a 10 point deduction… which should
have been enough to completely ruined their season, if not for the fact they had the greatest
of all time playing among them… With Moscardelli pulling off a mind blowing
20 goals and 2 assists in 27 games, including a goal that he insists was the most beautiful
one he ever scored, leading Guidonia to an unbelievable 2nd place finish, only 1 point
short off the top of the table, earning promotion even after being deducted of so many points… This should’ve been Moscardelli’s breakout
year, the fans were calling him Batigol in reference to his idol… The Belgium under 23 national team had approached
him and there were even some top tier teams looking to sign him… but as you might imagine,
things didn’t work out too well… First of all, he rejected Belgium, as he was
probably just hoping Italy would soon come knocking at his door as well and when it came
to the transfer market, well… he did sign for Chievo, who at the time were literally
competing for the UEFA Cup, but they weren’t sure he was ready to take such a big step
forward in his career, so before he had even gotten to put on their kit, they had sent
him out on co-ownership deal to Sangiovannese, in the 4th division… It’d be easy to believe this was the end
of his story, that this was the kind of slippery slope he would not be able to get out of…
but in reality, he was just 4 years away from receiving a million dollar contract offer
to play in a Champions League level team… Sounds impossible? Well… Let me explain. So, at Sangiovannese, he actually played really
well, getting 15 goals in 30 matches, which gave him some hopes that Chievo would put
the money on the table and bring him back, but in reality the opposite happened, with
Sangiovannese triggering a clause to get him permanently attached to the club, only to
then sell him to Triestina for 250 thousand euros, making a bit of a profit… Still, even though he was now playing in the
second tier, some considered that piece of business wasn’t the most favorable for him,
worrying it was too big of a step forward for a player who had only recently become
a pro… however what they didn’t foresee was that Moscardelli would hit some of the
greatest form of his career immediately after arriving, scoring in 12 out of the first 20
matches he played for the club, earning his team an incredibly 14 points out the mere
26 they had accumulated, making him easily one of the most decisive players in the league…
and that’s without taking penalties and without taking into consideration the number
of assists he might have provided… Still, over the rest of the season his form
dried up substantially and following another year where he failed to match the standard
set in his early days at Triestina, the club shocked everyone by a closing a deal for the
signing of legendary Dino Baggio, which in return led them to look for a way to offload
Moscardelli… And it was at this moment, while still riding
the waves created by that period of great form, that Moscardelli ended up signing for
Rimini… And this team was a special opportunity… they had only just been promoted to the second
tier, but they had clear intentions of making it to the top, which is now made very obvious
by the signings they made, getting the likes of Handanovic and Alessandro Matri, both players
who would make it to the biggest clubs in the country a few years later… With just a tad of luck, Moscardelli could
have followed that same path, but for some reason Rimini never gave him much of a chance
at becoming a regular starter, I mean… Over a span of nearly 6 months, the man was
given just 600 minutes of playing time, still pulled off 8 goals, literally the most out
of anyone in the squad… and he still went the rest of the season without being afforded
a chance to play the full 90… But ironically, it was right here that the
whole story tied together, because even if Rimini failed to see the potential he had,
there was someone else who did… Rubin Kazan, one of the top rated russian
clubs at the time, who would soon make their way to the Champions League… This is easily the moment that defined Moscardelli’s
career… Completely blown away by the rough diamond
they had stumbled upon, the club was willing to offer Rimini 1.2 million euros for the
player, as well as a salary of 1 million a year to Moscardelli… I’m sure to anyone else, this would have
been irresistible… but somehow Moscardelli rejected it… He claimed he felt good at Rimini despite
the lack of chances, he said he couldn’t imagine himself living in Russia and above
all he insisted that he couldn’t leave Italy, before he had managed to play a match at the
top flight, that above all that was his dream, to step where they had stepped, to… feel
like his heroes, like Totti, like Batistuta… And so at 28 years of age, trying to prove
to himself this decision hadn’t been a mistake, Moscardelli began a race against time… First of all, as ironic as it might sound,
Rimini ended up giving up on him and moving him to rivals Cesena, getting 650m thousand
euros for 50% of his playing rights… However, I’m sure this move left him with
a bunch of mixed feelings, as though he would be afforded much more playing time and quickly
establish himself as the star of the team, scoring 12 more goals than anyone else over
the season… that was more of a testament to Cesena’s incompetence than to Moscardelli’s
talent… as they would finish bottom of the league with no player aside from Moscardelli
managing to get more than 3 goals… Regardless, his incredible efforts to keep
the team afloat did not go unnoticed and so while his teammates went down to the third
tier, Rimini signed him back after just one year, only to immediately re-sell him to Piacenza… A team where Moscardelli would strangely team
up with Nainggolan and the brother of Iago Aspas, Jonathan Aspas, initially struggling
a bit with matching the goal scoring numbers of his previous seasons, but still excelling
enough that he was made captain before the start of his second season there, where he
finally got back on track, being the team’s top scorer by a gigantic margin, earning them
an astonishing 20 points over the season, which following a transfer market domino effect
was enough to finally land him a move back to the top flight, ironically enough being
bought by his old club, Chievo Verona…. And so on the 29th of August 2010, at 31 years
of age, Moscardelli finally got to live out his dream, debuting in the Serie A against
Catania and even more impressively scoring a decisive goal 15 minutes into the match
that would give him team their first win of the season, eventually Moscardelli would admit
in an interview “I didn't even think I'd start so fast, I didn't even think I'd play. When the ball went in I thought about how
long I had to wait for that feeling. I even let a tear escape. Beautiful”. In fact, he ended up getting the date of that
match tattooed on his skin and claiming that just for that goal, it was worth it to reject
Rubin Kazan… and even though he’d score in the following match as well, the best was
still to come… Despite the fact that two matches later, he
would end up being sidelined after a disappointing match vs Lazio… In November, he scored the winner after being
subbed on late into a game against Inter, allowing Chievo to tumble the giants and earning
himself a start in the following match…. against AS Roma… After 14 years in Italy, Moscardelli finally
got to share the pitch with his heroes… And though Totti would miss that match, getting
marked by his idol De Rossi was already a dream come true, I mean the guy has literally
tattooed his initials and if that’s not enough to convince you of how much of a fan
he is, let me tell what happened next… Moscardelli scored… he scored against Roma…
and if that was enough to leave him with a lot of mixed feelings, it all become even
funnier when in the 85th minute, De Rossi had enough and completely ran over Moscardelli,
being handed a red card, breaking Moscardelli’s heart who could not resist the temptation
of arguing with the referee, demanding that he take back the decision of sending off his
hero…. even if that would work against his own team… Although Moscardelli never quite managed to
settle himself at Chievo, over those 2 years he still managed to live out many other great
moments, getting to play in the Stadio Olimpico vs Lazio, going head to head with Totti, but
above all, earning the admiration of his coach, the now Italian Champion, Stefano Pioli…
which led him to make several attempts to sign Moscardelli for his new team Bologna,
after leaving Chievo… this, of course, left Moscardelli so excited that it led him to
make a promise that would change his life forever… telling his family “I won’t shave my beard
until I sign for Bologna”, which considering the negotiations would extend over to the
winter market, meant Moscardelli would end up with the most glorious beard in the sport,
completely by accident. However something many don’t realize is
that he did cut it when he finally made it to his new club alongside Pioli, as the sporting
director had told him that the beard wasn’t a good look for the club, little did he know
how much of an incredible marketing stunt this was, as by then the fans had gotten so
attached to the beard, that they began pleading for him to grow it back, a wish Moscardelli
respected completely, as it has now been over a decade since he last shaved it off… In fact he claims that he feels he’s stuck
with it as his little son would not even recognize him without it… Regardless, already 33, his time at Bologna
would not be the greatest, and even the honor of playing alongside the likes of Gilardino
or carrying Roberto Baggio’s number 10 on his back wouldn’t be enough to change that,
with Pioli eventually getting the sack and the club being relegated, leading him to sort
of decide to stick with playing at lower level leagues from there on out and regaining form
as he jumped from club to club, leading both Lecce, Arezzo and Pisa Calcio to the promotion
play offs over the next 5 years, becoming the undisputed king of the Serie C, finishing
out his career by achieving promotion to the Serie B with Pisa Calcio, leading them to
a 9th place finish in the second tier, their highest in almost 30 years and finally retiring….
except hold on for a second… That wasn’t the end, Moscardelli had once
promise he would shave his beard if he got to play for Roma, and though that didn’t
happen, he did get something very similar, as he was invited by Totti to join him in
his team playing in the Lega Calcio a 8, pretty much the 8-a-side equivalent of the Serie
A, and not only has he played, he is probably the best player in the competition, becoming
the top scorer with 30 goals in 16 matches, I mean even Totti as only managed to find
the back of the net 13 times so far… So yeah I guess you could say in the end his
dream did become true, and though I could now go on a rant, showing you that the higher
he got in the football pyramid the more he struggled or telling you that he is a false
image, that compilations could make any player look like Maradona, I’ll instead remind
you that it is much more fun to just believe the fairy tales, so instead if you ask me
why his career failed, I’ll tell you that Moscardelli was simply too good for the Ballon
D’Or…
