Andrea Ranocchia: Inter’s frustrating enigma coming to his own

It often appears to me that many Inter fans see Andrea Ranocchia as a frustrating enigma. A player that came to Inter as one of the most promising Italian defenders in recent times and someone that had earned a fantastic reputation at his previous clubs Bari and Genoa.

Yet despite a good start to his Inter career after arriving in the January transfer window of 2011, he would go on to have a disastrous 2011/2012 campaign in which he would struggle for both playing time and form. In the games he played, he looked slow, often out of position and completely lacking in confidence, which wasn’t helped by the fans getting on his back at even the hint of an error.

So with this in mind, I think it speaks volumes about how Ranocchia has developed as both a player and a man this season that when he is absent from the team through injury it provokes a feeling of concern amongst Inter fans, which was evident when he had to come off early in the match against Rubin Kazan due to a thigh problem.

Even though, admittedly, this concern may have something to do with how awful his understudy, Silvestre, has been since his arrival.So far this season, Ranocchia has proven to be one of Inter’s most consistent performers and has settled in perfectly to a back 3 alongside Walter Samuel and Juan Jesus after an initially shaky start to the season.

As well as defending, Rano is starting to become more of a presence when it comes to getting into the opposition box for corners and free kicks. At 6 foot 5 inches, he is a useful presence and one that gives opposition defenders something to think about.

It would be impossible to argue that Ranocchia is one of the best defenders in the game at the moment or even for that matter at the absolute top of the Italian game, but what can be argued is that Ranocchia is beginning to show that kind of maturity and quality that is expected of an Internazionale defender.