Schick Opens Up About Slow Roma Start

Thus far the parallels between the transfers of Juan Iturbe and Patrick Schick have been strong enough to give even the healthiest of Roma’s fans a myocardial infarction. While Shick’s debut Serie A season was a bit more prolific than Iturbe’s, each were among the most intriguing prospects in the league at the time, and each were a hair’s breadth away from playing for Juventus. For Iturbe, all that prevented the Old Lady from bearing witness to his struggles was the abrupt resignation of Antonio Conte, which threw Juve’s plans out the window that summer, while Schick went so far as to pose for the requisite medical exam photos at Juve’s HQ before failing said medical.

While Shick was always meant to play second fiddle to Edin Dzeko this season, his complete and utter lack of production has been shocking to us all. Due to a spate of muscular injuries and Dzeko’s fine play, Schick has been limited to all of 547 minutes of Serie A action, with his only contribution of note, a lone goal, coming in the Coppa Italia.

It has been, in a word, a nightmare of a season for the kid we call Baby Bergkamp, and today Schick shed a bit of light on his struggles.

Obviously it’s not going exactly as I imagined...I wasn’t expecting all these injuries, but now I’m doing my best to stay fit and at the moment I’m not worried about anything.

I’m not looking for excuses, but at the start I had the heart problems and I didn’t do pre-season training, then I threw myself into the season straight away and I got these muscular problems....It wasn’t the best start, but I’ll prove I’m worthy of Roma. I know I have to repay the trust that has been shown in me.

Pretty impressive response from the 22-year-old kid, and we can’t really discount how difficult it must have been to A) switch from Sampdoria to the six-time defending champions of Italy, B) have that move snatched away because of issues with your heart, C) face HEART ISSUES at all of 22-years-old, C) Have that move fall through, D) get courted and signed by Roma the next minute, and E) Start a new season with a new team with the weight of a potential €42 million deal on your back, oh and you have to fight for minutes with the reigning capocannoniere.

Patrik Schick took on an awful lot in an awfully short amount of time, so to expect him to traverse that with no issues was probably unrealistic. And while his 2017-2018 is probably a wash already, there’s just something about the way he moves on the pitch...