Serie A continues to grow and get more credit for being an incredibly entertaining and unpredictable league, shedding the stereotype that it is highly defensive in the process.
But while players like Rafael Leão and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are getting major mainstream plaudits, there are so many wonderful players in Serie A who remain underrated. That includes players at top clubs like Napoli, the current league leaders.
Here are five of the most underrated players in the Italian top flight. They are not the only undervalued players, but they stand out for being top-quality footballers who receive precious little recognition from the average fan of European football.
Monza CB Armando Izzo
Monza center back Armando Izzo has long been one of the most productive defenders in the Italian top flight. He had six consecutive seasons with over two interceptions per game while with Genoa and Torino.
Izzo joined Monza for their promotion to Serie A, and the 30-year-old has immediately established himself as one of the team’s most important players from both a leadership and quality perspective.
Newly-promoted sides need a top defensive leader in the heart of the defense, and Izzo has been one of the standouts in Serie A at any position so far in 2022/23.
Monza sit 12th in the Serie A table and look well clear of relegation. That’s down to a number of players fulfilling their roles, but Izzo is clearly at the top of that list.
So far this season, he has a whopping 3.3 tackles and 1.5 interceptions per match. You won’t find many more productive center backs in all of European football.
Sassuolo LW Armand Laurienté
Sassuolo are currently fighting a relegation battle, and although they are currently safe, they did rue a missed opportunity by only getting a 1-1 draw with Monza in their most recent fixture.
Domenico Berardi’s struggles due to injury have been much-publicized, and this was always going to be a tough season for the Neroverdi in light of Gianluca Scamacca and others recently leaving the club.
But Armand Laurienté has been a huge bright spot. The latest star winger for Sassuolo, Laurienté may prove to be even better than former Sassuolo superstar Jérémie Boga, currently refinding his form in Bergamo.
Laurienté has been one of the most exciting players in Serie A this season, keeping Sassuolo afloat with his incredible chance-creation. If his teammates in the attack were more up to the attack, the young Frenchman would surely have even more than three assists.
As it stands right now, Laurienté is averaging 3.0 key passes per game and a combined 3.5 dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game. Those numbers make him one of the very best wingers in Serie A right now, even though it seems like most fans of European football have scarcely heard of the former Lorient standout.
Napoli DM Stanislav Lobotka
Napoli have many of the absolute top performers in Italian football this season, which is why they are the clear Scudetto favorites after years of heartbreak.
Khivhca Kvaratskhelia, Kim Min-Jae, and, of course, superstar striker Victor Osimhen deserve all the plaudits they are getting. But there are several unsung heroes for the Partenopei, perhaps none more underrated than defensive midfielder Stanislav Lobotka.
The anchor man has been vital in both Serie A and the Champions League, setting the tempo for Napoli and finding open players to progress play. Lobotka starts attacks, recycles the ball, and provides world-class defensive cover at the heart of the pitch to allow Napoli’s attacking superstar full room to roam and shine.
Every elite side that wants to win the domestic title and make noise in the Champions League needs a midfielder like Lobotka. He is the engine and the cerebrum of the Partenopei, seemingly always making the right decisions and playing the game with a metronomic consistency that blends beautifully with the romanticism of Kvara etc.
Lazio GK Ivan Provedel
Ivan Provedel was a huge reason why Spezia were able to stay up in Serie A season after season. He distinguished himself in just about every match he started, making jaw-dropping saves that literally spared points in the table for the Little Eagles of Calcio.
Now, Provedel is the main man in Lazio, providing a potentially unexpected upgrade in goal for the Biancocelesti. Provedel took over for Luis Maximiano after the former Granada man’s red card at the beginning of the season. Maximiano was a top keeper in LaLiga before joining Lazio, so Provedel’s ability to hold him off is another endorsement of the goalkeeper’s quality.
Provedel has saved 75 percent of the shots he’s faced so far in the 2022/23 Serie A season, maintaining his status as one of the league’s best goalkeepers.
There are other underrated shot-stoppers, such as Empoli’s Guglielmo Vicario, but nobody performs better and receives less credit than Provedel. This, after all, isn’t the Italian’s first great season in the top flight.
Lecce RW Gabriel Strefezza
A newcomer to Serie A in 2022/23, Gabriel Strefezza was Lecce’s star man in 2021/22 when they made it back up from Serie B, and he’s picked up where he left off as the team’s clear best player in 2022/23.
Now, Lecce have a few standouts, such as Milan loanee Lorenzo Colombo, and they, like Monza, also appear to be safe in the top flight right now.
But nobody has been more responsible for the team’s success than the clutch Strefezza, who leads by example and is one of the best right wingers in Italian football.
Strefezza has scored five goals for Lecce this season. He draws 2.2 fouls per game and wins 1.7 tackles per game, highlighting a level of effort and intensity throughout the 90 minutes that is rare from a winger who scores with that output for a lower-table side.
On top of all that, Strefezza is averaging a key pass and a dribble completed per game.
Strefezza truly does it all for Lecce and is one of the most valuable players in Serie A to his team. At 25, he still has plenty of room to keep on improving. The Brazilian forward should be a household name, at least among fans of Calcio.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.