Italy's Questionable Decision to Hand Motta the Iconic Number 10

Restraint is a sign of maturity. A frequent piece of advice to people who have trouble controlling their temper or are struggling to shake that habit of putting their foot in their mouth is to count to 10 before opening it. Unfortunately, it’s the No.10 that is causing so much heated debate at the moment in Italy. “We’ve been talking about it for two days,” an incredulous Walter Zenga complained. “It’s crazy.”  

Antonio Conte warned that his decisions would “provoke discussion” and he was bang on the money. The choice of Thiago Motta as Italy’s No.10 for the European Championship seemed to offend an entire nation. After all, the 10 is more than a shirt, much more than a number. It’s an idea. You have to be an artist, an imagineer and as such kids kicking a football around in Italy’s squares and churchyards dream of being the one to wear it. Down the years they have pretended to be Gianni Rivera, Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti. Let’s be honest, hardly anyone grows up wanting to be Motta.  

Prodded for an explanation, the line out of the Italy camp is that the 10 was to be worn by Motta’s Paris Saint-Germain teammate and protégé, the injured Marco Verratti. When he became unavailable the logical, most natural successor would have been either Lorenzo Insigne or Federico Bernardeschi, the closest things in Conte’s squad to flair players. Insigne is coming off his best ever season in Serie A. He did the double-double in goals and assists - one of only two players to do so - and there is clamour for Napoli to bring Diego Maradona’s No.10 shirt out of retirement especially for him. Bernardeschi already wears it at Fiorentina, following in the footsteps of Giancarlo Antognoni, Baggio and Manuel Rui Costa.  

Apparently the reason Conte elected not to make either Italy’s No.10 is because he didn’t want to put too much pressure on them, pressure that could inhibit their performances. Considering Italy’s default setting at the Euros will be to line up in a 3-5-2, a system with no obvious role for Insigne, the team’s 10 would be on the bench unless Conte has a change of heart, switches to a 3-4-3 when the opponent suits or needs to chase a game and break it open. Bernardeschi has played as a wing-back in a 3-5-2 at club level this season. However, there is a sense that honouring him with the No.10 at 22 is too soon.  

Conte knows their personalities better than we do. He gets to work with them every day during international breaks. But here’s a thought: Rather than inhibit Insigne and Bernadeschi’s freedom of expression, might the added responsibility and dream-come-true nature of being Italy’s No.10 actually get these players to lift their performances for their country? Conte evidently doesn’t think so.  

Why not leave it unassigned then? This question has been asked a lot since Italy’s final 23-man squad was filed with UEFA. A glance at the rules reveals, however, that all the numbers between 1 to 23 have to be allocated. Conte’s justification for entrusting the 10 to Motta made it feel like a lifetime achievement award for the 33-year-old, recognition “for what he has done in the past and what we hope he will do in the present.” The other was that it won’t faze a player of his experience. Motta has broad enough shoulders to carry it and not allow all the history, tradition and expectations that come with it to weigh him down.  

And besides, it is not the first time the 10 has gone to a player who doesn’t operate between the lines - that transcendent space that can in football terms often be the difference between heaven and earth. Giacinto Fachetti wore it when Italy won the tournament in 1968. Gigi de Agostini was Italy’s dieci in 1988. Both were left-backs. Mario Bertini (1970) and Giuseppe Dossena (1982) were midfielders like Motta.  

Instead of silk, the 10 has also occasionally been synonymous with steel. The tough tackling Romeo Benetti (1978), Salvatore Bagni (1986) and Daniele De Rossi (2008) all appeared in it at major tournaments. Demetrio Albertini was Italy’s 10 at Euro `96 even though Del Piero and Gianfranco Zola were in Arrigo Sacchi’s squad. Figure that one out.  

Why all the fuss then? How come it has touched such a nerve? Well, we have already alluded to what the 10 represents and the romance attached to it. Motta is also an oriundo. He was born in Brazil. But he isn’t the first 10 to fall into that category. Omar Sivori, a proper Diez, was capped 19 times for Argentina before he walked out at the 1962 World Cup in Chile in Italy’s 10 shirt. At least he was a fantasista, a mischievous inventor. Motta, as we’ve already established, isn’t. 

Ultimately, the uproar about Motta speaks volumes about how this player, one of the most successful of his generation, continues to be underestimated. He was one of the final missing pieces Inter needed in order to win the treble and when he left - Claudio Ranieri will tell you - their midfield has never been the same since. They actually wanted him back last summer because in Paris, Motta is still a success.  

However, PSG tellingly refused to let him go. Verratti looks up to him and his stats offer a reminder as to why. Motta averaged the most passes per game in Ligue 1 (93.1) and by some distance as well. His completion rate of 92.5% was the highest among non-defenders to have played more than 15 games and only Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos (1007) made more passes than him (988) in the Champions League this season despite PSG’s elimination in the quarter-finals.  

“I invite anyone who is making fun of (Thiago) to go and have a kick-about with him,” De Rossi said in a press conference on Thursday, “Then we can talk. He deserves respect for everything he has done and won in the game.” Make no mistake Motta is by no means the perfect 10, but then nor is he a zero. Frankly the notion that he is should be about as offensive to football’s cogniscenti as some found Conte’s decision to give him this shirt in the first place.