Luciano Becchio: the man who was brought in to answer our shambolic goal scoring record – but as you all know, that didn’t happen… So what went wrong?
Luciano scored 75 in 190 appearances for Leeds so it’s easy to see why Chris Hughton wanted to offload the out of form Steve Morison and bring in the Argentinean goal scoring machine. However, since the very start, there has been an uncertainty with the whole situation – an uncertainty that has been frustrating Norwich fans all over the land.
Leeds fans were devastated when they heard Becchio was leaving them for a Premier League outfit, they thought he was the man who would lead them to promotion, it also didn’t help that they had lost Snodgrass, Howson and Johnson to the Canaries as well. What made it worse was that they were receiving Morison in a swap deal, a player lacking in fitness who was struggling to play a full 90 minutes. Leeds were clever though, they knew Hughton wanted to offload Morison, and he would be willing to pay to get hold of Becchio. It never made the public eye, but it looks like Norwich paid cash and Morison for Becchio – that makes the ‘swap deal’ look slightly less desirable.
So, Hughton clearly wanted Becchio, as he got rid of Morison and paid a substantial amount for his duties. Canaries fans were excited with the prospect of the Argentine, he’d scored for fun in the division below and it looked that he might do a job leading the line with Grant Holt.
He made his debut against QPR just 2 days after signing when he was brought on as an 87th minute substitute. Norwich fans liked the look of their new target man as he looked a real handful, exactly what they’d expected. The week later he then went on to start against Fulham where he struggled to find his feet resulting in frustration from the crowd and an angry Hughton. He later went on to make only 6 substitute appearances in 12 games, returning a measly 0 goals and 1 assist. So what went wrong?
At Leeds, Becchio was the main man; the man that was loved by every single fan and cherished for his fine form. At Norwich, the contrast has been huge. Becchio has not yet scored for the Canaries and hasn’t looked like coming close either – it’s been hard for supporters to genuinely attach themselves to him. Sometimes, players need the attention from the fans and the media to make an impact on the pitch, he had that at Leeds, but at Norwich he’s had Grant Holt (12/13) and van Wolfswinkel plus Hooper ahead of him this season. This isn’t his fault, he was always going to be thrown in the deep end with any Premier League team he joined, but things have been that little bit harder at Norwich. It’s not normal to join a side where a club legend is ahead of you who, when he leaves, is replaced by two players who are loved, and who fans want to see week in week out.
The summer after Becchio was brought in, Norwich broke the bank and brought in RvW and Hooper. These are two players who not only brought talent, but a lot of expectation. Hughton would have wanted to play them both himself, but the board probably had some say in how much time these two individuals had on the pitch. It would be ludicrous not to utilise two players with a combined cost £15 million ahead of Becchio – who has not yet scored and only cost a rumoured £2.5 million. This is of course not entirely his fault, but to get ahead of the two aforementioned signings, he would have had to have hit the ground running – something he didn’t do.
Becchio is a target man and did a great job for Leeds in that position, but he’s never been able to fulfil such a role at Norwich. You could argue that Grant Holt was built like a target man, but on the pitch he was far from it. He worked so hard and was always willing to drop deep for the ball when required and help out the midfield were we not in possession. Sadly, it seems Becchio is incapable of doing this job. He is the modern day striker, the player who doesn’t want to track back and feels there is one job for him to do – score goals. That statement is true to some extent, and for teams like Chelsea and Man City, that is all the strikers need to do. Contrastingly, in a team like Norwich, you need to contribute to the game in more than one way. We are a team who need strikers that help out winning the ball back, create chances for other players and drop deep when needed to receive the ball. Becchio doesn’t look suited to this role, whereas Hooper looks much more accustomed.
The last point is that he simply hasn’t been given a fair chance. No player can prove themselves playing the odd 10 minutes here and there. Look at Fernando Torres for example, he’s had 3 years of irregular chances, and still hasn’t demonstrated adequate capability. Becchio needs game time, and in the ruthless Premier League, that simply can’t be done. He has made a few appearances for the U21 team and never stood out which is worrying, but what can we expect of a man low on confidence and little to no minutes under his belt.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Becchio and where his future lies at Norwich. It’s sad to see such a promising talent squandered by the Premier League, there is still time of course, but it looks unlikely that he will ever make it as a regular Norwich first team player. The Championship looms and it truly is the last chance saloon for Becchio.
