The youngster in Hamsik´s footsteps

They had the most expensive squad, and the pressure of being labeled tournament favorites didn’t faze them. Brescia Calcio — the club where Marek Hamšík began his Italian career — has earned promotion back to the top tier. Thanks in part to another Slovak player.

When he transferred from MŠK Žilina to Italy in January last year for 1.5 million euros, some fans felt that a second-division club like Brescia Calcio was beneath him. But creative midfielder Nikolas Špalek opted for a step-by-step approach, much like Marek Hamšík once did. Hamšík joined Brescia in 2004 for “only” half a million euros and, after three years in northern Italy, launched the most important chapter of his career in Naples. “When I joined the club, I was told I’d have the first half-year to adapt. I arrived in the winter, mid-season, and I was really just getting to know the environment. But since the summer, I’ve fully settled in, and I’m happy we managed to achieve our shared goal,” Špalek told the Economic Daily.

Brescia is returning to Italy’s top league after eight years, and on paper, the club from Lombardy had the most valuable squad. Under coach Eugenio Corini, the team’s average player value was 1.33 million euros, with a total squad value of nearly 37.4 million — by far the highest among all Serie B teams. And while the newly promoted side is expected to be a prime relegation candidate in the 2019/2020 season, Brescia’s chances might be more than just theoretical. “A well-established Serie B club in Italy can definitely compete with the weaker teams from Serie A. The real gulf is between Serie B and Serie C. In the third division, salaries are often only around two thousand euros,” noted football agent Jozef Tokos. The numbers support his point: the gap in squad value between Brescia and top-tier Chievo Verona is minimal. Naturally, powerhouses like Juventus or Inter Milan are in a different league altogether. But survival in Serie A may not be an impossible mission for Brescia.

“I’m looking forward to every single match in the top flight. That’s why I’m very happy in Brescia right now,” Špalek said about his near future with the club. He also acknowledged that, even years later, any mention of the more famous Slovak — Marek Hamšík — still resonates within the club. Hamšík, too, played in both the second and first Italian leagues at a young age. In total, he made an impressive 409 Serie A appearances and became a true legend of Italian football. Beyond Špalek, other Slovak players are also in realistic contention for top-division football — including youth international and Hellas Verona striker Ľubomír Tupta, and national team defender Norbert Gyömbér, currently with AC Perugia.