Why Andrea Belotti is the most sought after striker in Europe

This year's European Golden Boot was already a topic of discussion at Saturday’s press conference at Torino's Sisport training ground. “If you do win it," asked one of the local reporters, "will you buy your teammates a present to say: Thanks?”  

“Yes, of course,” Torino striker Andrea Belotti replied, “but we’ve got to start winning first.” Monday's 2-2 draw with Fiorentina clearly still weighed on his mind. At this point, Belotti’s coach Sinisa Mihajlovic intervened. “Don’t worry,” he smiled. “Just think about scoring goals. I’ll take care of the gift.” Mihajlovic then turned to the journalists and said. “Andrea’s a little bit of a cheapskate. I wouldn’t like him to stop scoring just so he doesn’t have to buy them something.” 

This was also Mihajlovic’s explanation for Belotti’s penalty miss against Fiorentina. If he’d put it away he would have completed a hat-trick and a famous comeback from 2-0 down to win at the Artemio Franchi. On Sunday, Belotti ‘redeemed’ himself. Not from the spot. Legendary Torino striker Paolo Pulici has been offering him pointers on his penalty-taking technique. “Talk to the `keepers on the squad to learn the tricks of the trade.” But by going one better against Palermo than he did in Florence.  

Belotti had some unfinished business to take care of and boy did he take care of it. This time around he did complete a hat-trick. It was his second of the season and, as the Italy international reflected afterwards, this tripletta had a rather “special flavour” to it. First of all, it was Belotti’s first game as captain of Torino. Marco Benassi was suspended at the weekend, so the armband was available. “Andrea deserves it,” Claudio Sala, the last skipper to lead Torino to the Scudetto, told La Stampa. “It was about time.”  

Belotti made sure he got one designed special for the occasion. On it was a picture of his fiancée Giorgia and his Jack Russell, Angi. “They’re two very important people in my life,” Belotti said. Giorgia is from Palermo. They started dating while he was playing in pink and seeing him lead Torino out against his former club you got a sense of just how far he has come.  

Belotti was a super sub at Palermo and, contrary to the times when Maurizio Zamparini sold Luca Toni or Paulo Dybala, there wasn’t the same fanfare when Belotti moved to Torino 18 months ago for just €8m. He didn’t score until his 11th appearance in Granata. Much like Edison Cavani following his move Napoli, though, Belotti exploded upon leaving the Favorita. He hasn’t stopped scoring since and wasn’t about to stop on Sunday either.  Not only does it look like Palermo undersold Belotti, even Torino appear to have undervalued him.  

As Mihajlovic said on Sunday, “If he carries on playing like this, the president will have to review his clause because €100m isn’t all that much.” In hindsight Torino’s owner Urbano Cairo admitted wishing they hadn’t rushed into making Belotti sign an extension in December. “If I had the chance to do it all over again today, I’d make the clause €150m,” he told Sky Italia.  

Not for the first time this season, Belotti rescued Torino at the weekend. They had fallen behind to Palermo. Joe Hart in particular had reason to be grateful to Belotti after he was beaten down to his left by a long-range effort from Andrea Rispoli. In fact Monday's Tuttosport's front-page showed him wrapping Belotti in a warm embrace. 

Twice Belotti headed past Josip Posavec in the Palermo goal. Incidentally no one has scored more headers in Europe’s top five leagues (8) than him this season. The pick of the bunch, however, came when he volleyed Adem Ljajic’s free-kick home. Belotti watched the ball all the way down and executed a difficult finish perfectly. Il Gallo didn’t do his trademark Rooster celebration out of respect for his former team. He'd already done enough. At seven minutes and 15 seconds his hat-trick was the fastest in Serie A since his idol Andriy Shevchenko’s against Perugia in 2000. As it stands Belotti is Serie A’s Capocannoniere. “It’d be great to win it,” he admitted. Already on 22 goals, that total was enough for Mauro Icardi and Luca Toni to share the honour the season before last and there are still 11 games to play. Just think if Belotti hadn’t missed all those penalties.  

Since 2000 only Christian Vieri has been more prolific at this stage of a campaign. If Belotti can keep Gonzalo Higuain and Edin Dzeko at bay, he will become the youngest Italian to top the scoring charts since Alberto Gilardino just over a decade ago. His numbers are quite simply astonishing. Belotti has scored more goals on his own this season (22) than nine teams in Europe’s top five leagues. He isn’t a flat-track bully either. Belotti scored away at Milan, Inter and Napoli. He put Torino in front in the Derby della Mole and destroyed Roma, notching a goal and an assist in a 3-1 win in September. In all, Belotti has now scored against 13 different teams. At this rate, he will join Toni and Higuain as the only players since the late 50s to go beyond the 30-goal barrier in a single Serie A season. 

Torino’s own club record established by the great Valentino Mazzola 70 years ago is now at risk. Belotti needs eight from his remaining 11 games to do it. Given he has nine in 2017 already and has found the back of the net in six of his last seven appearances, I’d say Torino will anoint a new record holder. Right now only Edinson Cavani (27) and Lionel Messi (23) have scored more goals in Europe’s top five leagues. Incredibly Belotti manages to make them look one-dimensional.  

Naturally, I’m being provocative here, but consider for a moment the even distribution of Belotti’s goals. 20 of Cavani’s 27 have been with his right-foot. 20 of Messi’s 23 have been with his left. Belotti by contrast doesn’t favour any one side in particular. Break down his goals this season and you’ll find he has scored nine with his right, five with his left and eight with his head. He's a complete striker. “He’s also younger than Messi,” Cairo laughed.  

This week, reports of interest from Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United have gathered momentum and Cairo is getting the jitters. “I hope no one comes in for him,” he said. The trouble, as La Stampa’s Roberto Condio put it, is “Belotti is becoming too good for a team ranked ninth in Serie A and 99% certain of not being in Europe next season.” Cairo insists that even if the clause is activated by a foreign club in the summer, the decision ultimately rests with the player. He hopes Belotti will stay. “For now,” Cairo says, “Let’s just enjoy watching him play.”