It didn’t take long for Lorenzo Lucca to acquire an affectionate nickname among Nottingham Forest fans.
The Italian striker is yet to play for the Reds - albeit that could change against Leeds United at Elland Road this evening (8pm kick-off). But his height has already led to a few “Pizza Crouch” quips.
Like former England international Peter Crouch, Lucca stands at 6ft 7in tall. If he can go on to make a similar impact in the Premier League, there will surely be no complaints from Forest - after all, Crouch finished his career with more than 100 top-flight goals to his name.
Lucca is initially on loan at the City Ground from Napoli but his deal does include an option for his move to become a permanent one. The cost would reportedly be in the region of £35 million.
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The 25-year-old is said to have looked sharp and impressed in training since putting pen to paper last month. He had a watching brief from the bench for last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace, but it would be no surprise if he gets some minutes tonight.
Lucca should slot in well for the Reds. Putting a succession of crosses into the box has been a hallmark of the team’s style of play under head coach Sean Dyche, and the January signing has been brought in to get on the end of them.
“As a player, I would describe him as a dominant centre-forward in aerial play, good at holding up the ball with his back to goal, acting as a target man for his teammates, creating space and finishing with his head or with powerful shots,” Alessandro Sepe, editor in chief of Italian publication Area Napoli, tells NottinghamshireLive.
“His weaknesses are, he’s not particularly quick and sometimes he struggles to hold the ball under pressure or in tight spaces. He can commit fouls or lose discipline at times. At Napoli he struggled to integrate.
“To get the best out of him at Nottingham Forest, they would need a system that exploits his strengths - frequent crosses from the wings and high balls. Putting a lot of crosses into the box suits him perfectly - it’s one of the main reasons he was signed, as an ‘upgrade’ for an attack that lacks aerial presence and traditional centre-forward goals. He would work well with wingers who deliver crosses and with a partner who runs into space.”
As Dyche has pointed out several times, Forest spent a significant amount of money on wingers last summer. Dan Ndoye, Omari Hutchinson and Dilane Bakwa were brought in at a combined cost of more than £100 million to join Callum Hudson-Odoi as the club’s wide options, following the departure of Anthony Elanga.
It was hoped last term’s top scorer Chris Wood would be the beneficiary of service into the box from the newcomers, but the New Zealand international has been sidelined for much of this season. Summer arrival Igor Jesus looks to have something about him but has scored only twice in the league so far.
Strengthening at the top end of the pitch was, therefore, a priority for the club in the winter window - particularly when Arnaud Kalimuendo was allowed to join Eintracht Frankfurt on loan. Taiwo Awoniyi showed he can still have a part to play with his goal against Brentford last month, but Lucca will be the main challenger for Jesus’ shirt.
“He is a player who makes his physicality his greatest strength,” says Stefano Cutolo, a reporter for newspaper Il Messaggero. “He protects the ball and makes the team go up. His body is definitely his best weapon.
“If you need a striker who welcomes crosses in the penalty air, Lucca could certainly be the right choice. He behaves like a water polo centre. The English league is definitely very physical, and the man-on-man marking could benefit Lucca, being a player who tries to do his best when under pressure.”
Lucca has had a varied career so far. It has mostly been spent in his homeland - taking in Vicenza, Torino, Palermo, Pisa and Udinese, as well as Napoli - although he did have a loan spell with Dutch side Ajax.
He has previously said: “Playing for so many clubs did me a lot of good, and I would advise everyone to play in the lower leagues, it forces you to learn some grit. I didn’t play much at Ajax, I was a long way from home and still very young, but these are experiences that help you grow.”
Last term, with Udinese, proved to be his best campaign to date as his 14 goals made him the club’s top scorer. Across two seasons with the Serie A outfit, Lucca notched up 29 goal involvements, including 23 goals, in 75 appearances and was rewarded with five caps for the national team. Announcing his departure for Napoli last summer, the club said he had “developed into one of the best strikers in Serie A”.
The going proved a little tougher for the front man with Antonio Conte’s Napoli, however. Prior to heading Trentside, he had registered two goals in 23 run-outs - with just one goal from 16 games in the league.
“At Napoli, under Conte, he struggled enormously,” reflects Sepe. “He lost confidence after a poor start, failed to adapt to Conte’s style and ended up being ‘rejected’ by the coach. He had great difficulty fitting into Conte’s system and the Napoli dressing room.”
Salvatore Malfitano, from Gazetta dello Sport, adds: “Napoli needed something better. Conte wanted a player more complete in passing and faster to attack free space - like (Rasmus) Hojlund or (Romelu) Lukaku.
“Conte believed Lucca’s physicality could be a good fit for his team, but he was wrong. Last year, Lucca was always in Udinese’s starting team; in Napoli he was always benched.”
There are no guarantees Lucca’s fortunes will change in the UK, of course, but he seems to have settled in quickly. His English is better than Forest expected and global head of football Edu described him as a player with “scope” for development when his arrival was announced.
Centre-back Nikola Milenkovic already knew what to expect from the forward in training, having played against him in Italy during his time with Fiorentina. He recently said: “He is a really good player and, yes, a big guy. We expect a lot from him, but also from all of our strikers. We have some good quality and we have to be happy with them.”
Adapting to a new league and a new country can sometimes be tricky, but the Reds hope Lucca’s experience of going to Ajax can help. He joins a side with work still to do to secure Premier League survival but with ambitions of going far in the Europa League.
A clue as to whether he will be up for the fight comes from a well-known tale from his time at Udinese. It happened about 12 months ago, with Lucca defying regular penalty-taker Florian Thauvin to take a spot-kick against Lecce himself.
Thauvin objected, as did Lucca’s teammates, and they refused to celebrate with him after he had put the ball in the back of the net. It perhaps shows a stubbornness but also a single-mindedness that can sometimes be useful for strikers.
Sepe admits he still needs to mature to some degree, but adds: “He seems like a boy with a strong personality. In a relegation battle like the one Forest might face, he should be able to handle the pressure.
“He has the mentality of someone who wants to emerge, and the English ‘underdog’ environment could really motivate him. I think he can adapt quickly and do well in the Premier League.
“The Premier League rewards physicality and aerial duels, where he excels. If he gets regular minutes, crosses and a direct system, he could explode like he did at Udinese.”
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