There was time when the word trequartisa was on everyone’s lips. So who is the enigmatic trequartista we are going to talk about? Actually, there is not just one person considered as the enigmatic trequartista. Instead, there are many them. From Del Piero to Roman, from Platini to Totti.
Defining Trequartista
Yes, you are right. They are all different and don’t seem to have the same style of play. To help us, this is one of the generalized definitions of trequartista as quoted from Roberto Mancini:
Trequartista is a player equipped with great technical skills and specific characteristics:
- Sublime capacity for losing his marker.
- Great basic technical skills and good technically-applied quality.
- Unpredictability.
- Ability to conjure assists for teammate with ease in various ways.
- A predisposition for dribbling and individual play.
- A scarce presence in the defensive phase of the pitch.
Well there is no real consensus on the definition, but in short, these dudes are magical. These specialists are revered, worshipped, up to the point people even called them the fantasista; they don’t need to be tactically discipline, don’t have to track back to help his
defender, even they are allowed to go grab some lunch or coffee during the game, as long as they show up at some points and wreak total havoc. And they will, even more, some of the greatest will do it many, many times.
Wow. That sounds amazing, is the enigmatic trequartista still around?
Where are they?
As beautiful as it is, it seems that those glorious days were over thanks to the resurgence of anchorman/volante/enforcer or whichever they were called; driving most of our beloved trequartista into unemployment.
What happened is as simple as this:
As exotic as they are, this type of player is extremely rare. At least the good one is, and you definitely would look for a really good one as any mediocre bootleg trequartista is a total liability. It’s like playing with one less player. It’s like a game of 10 vs 11.
Now you get the idea. Unlike this rare breed of creative and critical problem solver; the more the athletic and pragmatic anti-trequartista type is abundant as their roles and duties are considerably simpler. Moreover, they can be mass-produced and trained to kill their weaker counterpart.
The Downfall of Trequartistas
Nevertheless, it was not that easy to kill them, but these anti-trequartista are persistently getting better, smarter, and of course, more versatile. Slowly but sure, the number of the enigmatic trequartista is continuously dwindling close to extinction. Starting from direct killers (who removed those treaquartistas on the pitch) such as Makelele, Gattuso, or Davids, to indirect killers (who removed those treaquartistas off the pitch) that were born later on. Players such as the magical Modric, the average Arteta, or the incredible Iniesta, were not by all means, chasing around opposition trequartista to death. Instead, they removed them by offering to be less like them and be more of anything else needed. They offer versatility.
This game of football is known as the beautiful game and it is rightfully so. Moving into a short future after the death and decay of the widely beloved trequartista, the game keep on evolving. From the ashes of Del Piero & co, more and more equally, if not more, wonderful style was born.
So, do these trequartistas are still around? For me, they are, at least fragments of them.
Side note:
Roughly 15 years ago I regularly played in national youth circuits, flourishing as an offensive midfielder on an Italian-influenced 3-5-2 system and was hailed as a trequartista. While it is of course subjective and debatable, I’ll say that it is the best position to play and to watch if one would like to get the most out of this beautiful game.
I was not the most physically gifted athlete but I was exceptionally good back then until I broke my knee. To be very honest, I grew up watching a lot of tapes (real VHS video tape) of Baggio and young Del Piero followed later on by digitalized game recordings of Roman, Aimar, and many more. There are many other similar terms such as the enganche. Some says that enganche is a lazier trequartista who stick to their position and scored less goal. Idk. It is all just a generalization as everyone is actually playing their own games. I love them all.