Gianluigi Lentini

Before the accident changed everything, Gianluigi Lentini looked like one of the most frightening wide players in Europe. Strong, fast and technically gifted, he had the rare ability to beat defenders through both power and dribbling, carrying the ball with long strides and sudden changes of direction that made the flank feel impossible to close. At Torino he was explosive, a modern winger before the term became fashionable, able to create, cross, attack the box and stretch a defensive line by sheer physical threat. Milan paid a world record fee for him in 1992, and that detail alone explains how highly his ceiling was viewed. After the car crash, he remained a good player, but the elite burst, confidence and continuity were never quite the same. Lentini is one of Italian football's great unfinished stories: a winger of force, technique and cruelly altered destiny.