Reaparecido Alvarez Just a summer story

Admittedly, the presence of Janis Antiste , a 2002-born French striker returning from his loan spell at Nuremberg, was a surprise among the 29 players who have come under Fabio Grosso 's orders in Ronzone, the Trentino location of the Neroverdi training camp. But since Antiste had already started under Grosso – even scoring a goal – last season before moving to Germany, the surprise of this first Sassuolo is another. His name is Agustin , surname Alvarez , and he is a 2001-born Uruguayan striker whom Sassuolo picked up, overpaying him (12 million, it is said) and securing him (a five-year contract) in the summer of 2022 from Penarol. 'El Canario', as he was known in his homeland, where he had made his mark both by making it to the national team and by scoring 35 goals in 111 league and cup appearances, however, he never really took off. A single, but crucial, goal against Torino in September 2022, and just 350 minutes on the pitch, leaving faint traces for Dionisi's Sassuolo. In the spring, a cruciate ligament injury kept him out of action until the fall, forcing him back to Sassuolo for the 2023/24 season beyond his time limit. Hence his January loan move to Sampdoria, where the Uruguayan striker, despite being relegated to Serie B, scored one goal in just under 800 minutes. Not enough to convince the Neroverdi management to keep him once he returned to base, despite the club's relegation. He too was a victim of last summer's many changes, packing his bags and moving to Elche , Spain, where he regained some fitness and some consistency, resulting in nine goals in 40 games.

He returns from Spain with the stigma of being overstocked—Sassuolo has more than one center forward, one of whom is a certain Andrea Pinamonti —and everyone expects him to be absent from the Sassuolo squad that moves to Ronzone. And yet... Instead, the list of players called up, compiled in alphabetical order, makes him the first striker in the attacking squad that Fabio Grosso is accompanying to Trentino. Will it be true glory? Not at first glance, in the sense that "El Canario" will leave as soon as he finds a place and, frankly, he seems hopelessly closed off by competition that leaves him no room and rumors that Sassuolo are looking for other players—Cutrone, Colombo, even Pio Esposito—to fill the center of the attacking trio. But the story of the "Canario" looking for space is a great summer story, and while we wait to understand the seemingly predetermined ending that sees him leaving again, it was worth telling.

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