Borini on his way to Canada!

The title of this blog may be a tad bit misleading, but it is in fact true. Fabio Borini, a member of the Italy Euro 2012 squad, is set to play alongside his new Liverpool teammates on Saturday in a friendly against Toronto FC at the Rogers Centre.

The truth is Italy did not lose just one very talented young star when Marco Verratti moved to PSG, but on July 13, 2012 they lost Fabio Borini to Liverpool. Fabio has bounced around quite a bit for a talented 21-year-old. This being his fifth team since joining Chelsea at the ripe young age of 16.

Fabio Borini (Chelsea)

Fabio Borini came up through the Bologna youth system before signing for Chelsea in 2007. He was a standout on the reserve squad coached by Brendan Rodgers, but only made 3 appearances for the senior squad between 2009 and 2011. As Brendan Rodgers moved to Championship side Swansea in 2011 so did Borini on a loan deal. He didn't feature in the squad much but became a big part of the team  down the stretch scoring 6 times in 9 appearances and scoring the winning penalty in a promotion-playoff that sent Swansea to the Premiere League. However Fabio made it clear that he would not return to Chelsea following his loan spell at Swansea, and he had signed on a free transfer with Italian club Parma.

Fabio Borini (Swansea)

He never actually played for Parma as they sent him to Roma on a loan deal before the start of the 2011-12 season. Fabio made a name for himself there, scoring 9 goals in 24 appearances. He earned his first cap for the Azzurri on February 29, 2012 and was later named to the Euro 2012 squad. Now here comes the sad part, Liverpool appointed Brendan Rodgers to take over from Kenny Dalglish. His goal; to bring Liverpool back to respectability. So naturally, who do you think Brendan Rodgers wanted to bring in first to begin the rebuild at Anfield? Fabio Borini. Just over 13 million Euros was the agreed transfer fee between Roma and Liverpool.

Fabio Borini (Parma)

I have yet to figure out why Roma would want to part ways with their young stud. It just seems to be more of a backward step for a team that seemed to be making many strides on the transfer market this summer. It did not make sense to me at all, teams do not part with such great young talent so easily and for such low fees. Roma's new coach Zdenek Zeman prefers a 4-3-3 tactic and needless to say Borini is perfect for it. He can fit in as one of the wing forwards perfectly as he is just as good a playmaker as he is a scorer. Needless to say, I was baffled and still am. On top of all that Roma wants to replace Borini with another young Italian in Mattia Destro who is more of a pure CF than Borini, but Roma already have Pablo Osvaldo in that role, another reason the move does not make much sense for the Giallorossi.

Fabio Borini (Roma)

Now I'm not usually one for conspiracies, but it seems to me that there is more at work here. So I looked a little deeper, and found out that Roma's new American owner Thomas Di Benedetto is also a partner of the Fenway Sports Group who of course recently purchased Liverpool FC. I'm not saying there is anything there, but I'm just saying. I can smell the fish all the way across the pond; or maybe that is just because both teams are in North America, and are getting set for a friendly against each other in Boston on July 25. There is definitely a lot at work here and I guess it was ineveitable that we would see dealings between these two clubs, and there will probably be much more in the future 'you pat my back, I'll pat yours'.

Fabio Borini (Liverpool)

It may be a bad decision for Roma to let Borini go, but clearly the Fenway Sports Group believe he can be more marketable in the EPL, and with Brendan Rodgers at the helm knowing how much potential the 21-year-old Italian international has, he should be in good hands.

On the bright side of things, Toronto will get a chance to see just how talented Fabio Borini is this Saturday at the Rogers Centre when Liverpool take on our very own Toronto FC. This young man should feature in the Azzurri squad for many years to come.