Marek Hamsik
Country: SlovakiaClub
Country: SlovakiaClub
Team: Napoli
Position: Midfielder
Position: Midfielder
Age: 22
It's rather a shame that Marek Hamsik wasn't born on the other side of the border that carved up Czechoslovakia -- for the Czechs anyway -- because nobody is a more suitable replacement to aging star Pavel Nedved. It took all of one professional game in his native Slovakia for Hamsik to be snapped up by Italian side Brescia. Now with Napoli, Hamsik has emerged as one of the better young attacking midfielders in the game. His facile finishing and ability to cover an immense amount of space on the field underpinned a Slovakian team that dominated in qualifying.
Scouting thumbnail: Modern-day box-to-box midfielder who times his late runs into the box to maximum effort. Often deployed as a deep-lying playmaker at the international level, Hamsik is a complete midfielder who can also score goals.
Scouting thumbnail: Modern-day box-to-box midfielder who times his late runs into the box to maximum effort. Often deployed as a deep-lying playmaker at the international level, Hamsik is a complete midfielder who can also score goals.
More significantly perhaps, that purchase represented a crafty shift in World Cup shopping techniques that other managers will be keen to mimic this time round - try and identify the breakout players and get them locked up before the tournament begins. That way you save yourself a few million and don't have to compete in such a crowded field.
One such player who the big managers will now be slobbering over before the action kicks off in South Africa is Slovakia's Marek Hamsik, who grabbed himself a bunch of headlines across Europe this morning by bashing two past Gigi Buffon in Napoli's shock 3-2 win at Juventus last night.
"I dedicate the goals to my girlfriend who will soon give birth to my son," said the delighted young Slovak, whose team came back from 2-0 down to maximise the anguish for Juventus.
For the last two seasons he has been runner-up in the Slovakian player of the year voting, both times behind Martin Skrtel, and former Torino boss Walter Novellino once described him as "skilful and very cheeky on the pitch, he's a real talent."
Hamsik is an attacking midfielder, who tends to play either in the middle or on the left side, so probably wouldn't figure on Arsene Wenger's pre-tournament shopping list, given Arsenal's strength in those positions. Chelsea aren't allowed a shopping list, of course, although the News of the Screws have them down as "interested" this
One such player who the big managers will now be slobbering over before the action kicks off in South Africa is Slovakia's Marek Hamsik, who grabbed himself a bunch of headlines across Europe this morning by bashing two past Gigi Buffon in Napoli's shock 3-2 win at Juventus last night.
"I dedicate the goals to my girlfriend who will soon give birth to my son," said the delighted young Slovak, whose team came back from 2-0 down to maximise the anguish for Juventus.
For the last two seasons he has been runner-up in the Slovakian player of the year voting, both times behind Martin Skrtel, and former Torino boss Walter Novellino once described him as "skilful and very cheeky on the pitch, he's a real talent."
Hamsik is an attacking midfielder, who tends to play either in the middle or on the left side, so probably wouldn't figure on Arsene Wenger's pre-tournament shopping list, given Arsenal's strength in those positions. Chelsea aren't allowed a shopping list, of course, although the News of the Screws have them down as "interested" this
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