Liverpool fans may remember Fabio Borini for some underwhelming performances in a red shirt, yet, under legendary Italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo, he has become a goalscoring machine at the age of 31.
Part of the Chelsea academy and signed by Brendan Rodgers in the summer of 2012, there were high hopes for the striker, who was well known to the Northern Irishman, having enjoyed a successful loan spell at Swansea in which he scored six times in nine games.
He'd since joined Parma and then Roma, where he'd boast of respectful record of scoring nine times in 24 appearances before Rodgers made him his first signing of his Anfield reign for £9m.
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Borini made an instant impression at Liverpool, scoring on his debut for the club as they eased past FC Gomel in the Europa League qualifiers - but that was almost as good as it got for the Italian during a three-year spell on Merseyside.
Indeed, after scoring just once more in his maiden season with the Reds, he moved out on loan to Sunderland for 2013/14, scoring 10 times for the Black Cats before returning to Anfield for the 2014/15 campaign.
however, just one goal in another 18 appearances for the Reds saw him permanently joining Sunderland in the summer of 2015.
Since leaving Liverpool Borini has also had stints at AC Milan and Hellas Verona in Serie A but again failed to capitalise on the chances he was given and found himself without a club at the beginning of the 2020 season.
The 31-year-old seems to have finally settled in the Turkish League for Karagümrük. He joined in January 2021 and went on to score nine goals in 20 appearances in the Süper Lig. Despite a terrific first six months, Borini returned to his inconsistent form of previous seasons with just three goals the following campaign.
June 2022 saw Pirlo become the new manager of Karagümrük, and for Borini, a return to goalscoring form. The Italian has netted 13 goals in 19 appearances across all competitions and it’s only just over halfway through the season. Second in the goalscoring charts, behind former Everton striker Enner Valencia, Borini will hope to continue his performances and fire his side further up the table.
And with his 11 league goals coming from 44 shots, Borini is impressing in the analytics department with an xG of 6.91 and xG per shot of 0.16.
Pirlo’s team have scored the second most amount of goals this season, but, remain in 10th place. His attacking style of play has clearly contributed to Borini’s stellar season but the defence has continued to leak goals. The former Juventus coach has to sort this headache out without impacting his star man if his side are to succeed.
His performances this year are what Liverpool fans had hoped for when he joined over a decade ago but he is now finally reaching his potential out in Turkey.
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