The striker is attracting attention from some of the Premier League’s top teams as he has yet to commit his future to the Rossoneri
Nobody will, in fairness, because this was a little bit of history; Camarda was just 15 years and 260 days old at the time, making him the youngest player ever to feature in a Serie A match. A combination of injury and suspension may have forced Pioli’s hand, but nobody was in the least bit surprised that the Rossoneri coach had turned to Camarda to strengthen a depleted attack. He was being tipped for greatness even before he made his first appearance for the Primavera (Under-19s) earlier this season.
Indeed, the feeling at San Siro has long been that Milan have already found their next great goal-scorer…
Where it all began
Camarda was born in Milan and began playing organised football with Afforese, a small but famous club located in the north-west of the city. Despite being just six when he joined, his incredible potential was immediately obvious to Piero Colangelo, who was responsible for the lowest age groups at the time.
“He was three years younger than some of the kids but he was doing the training exercises better than anyone,” he told Sprint & Sport. “Let me be clear: I don’t want to take any credit. Everything Francesco has done is exclusively thanks to him.
There was no containing Camarda at Milan, either. The ‘hurricane’ laid waste to every defence that had the misfortune to be placed in his path, obliterating one record after another, averaging five goals a game as he progressed from one under-age team to another.
He struck 22 times in 25 appearances for Milan’s U15 Italian champions, including the winner in the Scudetto final against Fiorentina. By that stage, the hype surrounding Camarda was already building and he inevitably began to attract the attention of rival clubs, particularly as Milan were not in a position to tie him down to a long-term professional contract until he turned 16.
However, in one of his last moves before being ruthlessly sacked by Milan, Paolo Maldini went out of his way to assure Camarda and his family that his future would be best served by staying at San Siro, revealing that he would be added to the Primavera squad for the 2023-24 season. Unsurprisingly, it proved an inspired call by the Rossoneri’s grossly mistreated former technical director.
On his UEFA Youth League debut, Camarda scored two goals and created another in a 4-0 rout of Newcastle. In doing so, he became the second-youngest player ever to bag a brace in the club game’s most prestigious Under-19 tournament. On November 7, meanwhile, he helped Milan to a 3-2 win over Paris Saint-Germain with a stunning scissors-kick.
So, when Pioli found himself shorn of the services of Olivier Giroud (suspension), Rafael Leao and Noah Okafor (both injured) for the game against Fiorentina later that month, he decided to call up Camarda.
Milan required special clearance from the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) to field a minor in a competitive fixture, but Camarda had already trained with the senior squad several times, even featuring in a pre-season friendly against Trento. Consequently, Pioli had no doubts that the teenager was ready to make the step up. “Talent has no age,” the coach told reporters on the eve of the match at San Siro, “and Francesco undoubtedly has it.”
