Giovanni Simeone, son of Diego, is thriving on loan at Hellas Verona as a result of meditation and doing his own in-depth analysis on opponents; with insight from his aunt Carla, a mental coach, a look at how Simeone has scaled new heights in Serie A
Wednesday 9 February 2022 11:18, UK
The morning before Verona's game against Lazio in October, Giovanni Simeone could feel the nerves of game-day approaching. That is not unusual for a professional footballer but he knew that he needed to act. He went into his meditation exercises.
Later that evening he was the hero. Verona won 4-1. Simeone scored all four for his side. He scored two more in beating Juventus the following week, making the Argentinian forward the top scorer in any major European league that month. He has 12 in total this season.
It has been a transformation for Simeone, now 26, who was allowed to leave Cagliari on loan in August. He is now the top-scoring South American player in any of Europe's big leagues, rekindling his ambition of going to the World Cup later this year.
His recent success raises questions about why it clicks for some players later than others, how a player can explode at one club after failing to ignite elsewhere. For Simeone, there was a mental shift, a change in thinking that has sparked this improvement.
Opportunities at Cagliari were limited under Leonardo Semplici, who favoured a physical game. Simeone got married last summer aware that his career was at a crossroads. He spent part of his honeymoon in a Maldives gym preparing himself for the challenge.
He analysed his situation. Some players do not consider their opponents before a game, they are not even football fans. Simeone, as one might expect of a player whose father remains one of the game's most celebrated coaches, is a student of it.
Opposition analysis has become part of his routine. He now has a notebook in which he writes down the strengths and weaknesses of each opponent, both the team and the individual defenders. He observes from the stands when his side is not in action.
During the pandemic, he watched videos of Atletico Madrid and studied the movements of the forwards. He realised something. His own desire to get involved was undermining his work. He was running into the wrong areas. He needed to run smarter not more.
As a result, his relationships with team-mates have improved. The partnership with Gianluca Caprari, ably supported from midfield by Antonin Barak, has been a revelation, putting Verona within reach of a best league finish since their glory days of the 1980s.
Simeone says he has never developed a connection so quickly with another player as he has done with Caprari. Following the Argentinian's assist against Spezia last month, they are the only duo in Serie A to have set up each other for multiple goals this season.
Both men, along with Barak, rank among the top 20 scorers.
His father is not the only family influence on Simeone. His interest in visualisation techniques - whether that is meditation or psyching himself up by watching Rocky Balboa films - is shared by aunt Carla, Diego's sister. She is a mental coach working within sport.
"Mental strength is one of the most important aspects of the game and I enjoy being that bridge that helps them take that first step," she tells Sky Sports.
"A player spends many hours of his life training his physique, but without a doubt the game begins on the inside. It is therefore essential that the athlete can know himself, find his balance, listen to himself to know what his strengths and weaknesses are.
"Sport improves our mental health and the mind improves our sporting results. A mind ready for competition, with its ups and downs, is just as important as any physical training.
"Each human being is unique that is why he must find his own way of meditating, one that he can sustain over time until it becomes a habit through repetition.
"The important thing is to find that focus, to quieten the mind. To find what works and also to be able to identify what does not work, what distracts from achieving your objectives.
"Finding that out, for some it will take 10 minutes and for others maybe much longer. The important thing is to take that first step to do things differently and find yourself again."
Even now, as many become more aware of the importance of psychology in performance, her view is that its potential remains unexplored.
In other words, it is a potential edge for players.
"I firmly believe that those who underestimate it have not yet allowed themselves to experience it. You are always capable of growing. You just have to dare to do different things to get different results for your life. That depends on each one of us."
Her nephew, it seems, is beginning to unlock that potential.
