Genoa coach since November 2025, has Daniele De Rossi found the magic formula to make Vitinha shine? Permanently recruited in 2024 by the Italian club, the former Olympique de Marseille flop (which cost €32 million, editor’s note) only scored 9 goals in 72 matches with Il Grifone. But De Rossi played him in a more backward position at the end of the season. And the 2006 world champion was full of praise for his player.
“He’s a full-back who wears number 9 by chance (laughs). He is one of the players who has best embodied this adventure since our arrival. He never gave up. From the first match, during the pre-match speech, he already had a fiery look in his eyes, and he finished the last match, where the result no longer mattered to us, completely exhausted, suffering from cramps. We have to understand how to make him perform to the maximum, but, as a group and on the pitch, we have a player who interprets football the way I interpreted it myself. And in saying this, I am referring to the love for one’s sport, to the generosity and willingness to sacrifice at every moment of the season, while also putting quality into it. He is a very important player for us. The fact of having aligned him further back is not a simple game, it is something that makes us think about the future. We also played him as an attacking midfielder, sometimes as a center forward. He’s a Genoa player.”he declared on the eve of the last Serie A match lost against Lecce. The Portuguese will appreciate it.
