On the surface, there was nothing unusual about a photograph of former Argentina international Diego Simeone bending down next to his young son, who was wearing a replica of his father’s sky blue and white striped kit. What is remarkable about this picture however, is the fact that the very same little boy has now grown up, and Giovanni Simeone is on the brink of making his own debut for the Albiceleste national team, yet another proud and poignant moment for the family.
Such a development has not come about through birthright, but through sheer hard work and determination. Following his father’s footsteps in playing his domestic football in Italy has not meant that the 23-year-old has simply sat back and let his name do the talking, but instead he has done quite the opposite.
Giovanni earned a move to Fiorentina in summer 2017 after a superb breakout campaign in the Italian top-flight with Genoa. Last term, he scored 14 goals, including a superb hat-trick in a 3-0 win over title-chasing Napoli. Yet somehow those strikes were not even the most impressive aspect of his first season in Tuscany, his incredible work ethic and tenacity immediately winning the Viola supporters over.
Now his son is thriving at Fiorentina as a striker and looks set to make his Argentina senior debut tomorrow night.
Brilliant.
Rumours over the summer were inevitably going to link the striker with moves away – the one time when his famous surname really does make a difference – the €30 million bid said to have been turned down from Olympique Marseille more credible as a rumour than persistent links with his father’s Atletico Madrid.
Indeed, Diego seems perfectly happy with his son’s development under Coach Stefano Pioli, the fact the latter has done great work in developing young players hardly likely to have gone unnoticed. In addition to being under the nurturing wing of Pioli, Giovanni has taken advice several times from Gabriel Batistuta, the legendary striker one he would surely like to emulate both for Fiorentina and Argentina.
The 23-year-old has shown maturity beyond his years, his healthy pastimes surely an indication of exactly why he is so mentally focused on his absolute aim of scoring goals. “My passions? Reading, meditating, fishing,” revealed the Argentine to ViolaNews in December last year.
“What am I reading? There’s a book I haven’t read yet that I can’t wait to get to. It’s about a monastery where they practice a rule of silence. My dream is to visit places where they cultivate the spirit. There can be silence even in the middle of crowds and the noises of the city. It’s an interior question: what helps you listen to yourself and live better even in difficult moments?”
A calm and steady mind allows Simeone to play with the ferocity of a lion, and he did just that during Fiorentina’s season opener with Chievo Verona on August 26th. In that match he battled for the ball, desperate to score as the Viola went 5-1 ahead, already having delivered a perfect cross for team-mate Marco Benassi to fire in. Such resolve to appear on the scoresheet that night finally paid off in the 93rd minute when he found the back of the net, the final whistle coming shortly after that moment when the 23-year-old found the back of the net.
