Frosinone goalkeeper Lorenzo Palmisani dreaming of Gianluigi Buffon-style career

Cesc Fabregas could barely contain his frustration as Lorenzo Palmisani repeatedly denied Como during their 2-0 defeat by Frosinone.

Whenever a Como player moved towards goal, Fabregas’ folded arms would separate before forming clenched fists in anticipation of a finish. But the 22-year-old goalkeeper had an answer to every attempt, whether the shot came from Argentina’s prodigy Nico Paz or leading Dutch scorer Anastasios Douvikas.

“Palmisani made an enormous number of saves. If we had won 4-1, it would not have been a surprise,” Fabregas said after the match.

Instead, Frosinone secured their third victory in five matches, while Como suffered their first defeat in five months.

Two clean sheets in his first five appearances have made Palmisani central to Massimiliano Alvini’s side’s impressive start. His second, against Como, earned him the player-of-the-match award and a rating of 10, with a special mark, in the national press.

SportMediaset asked: “Has Italy really produced another wonderkid between the posts?” The country’s goalkeeping tradition includes Dino Zoff, Gianluigi Buffon and Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The comparison with Buffon would mean most to Palmisani, whose father Piero says the former Italy and Juventus goalkeeper has always been his son’s greatest inspiration.

“Lorenzo was always thinking about Buffon,” Piero told Tuttosport. “I do not want to know how many videos he has watched of Gigi throughout his life.”

The Palmisani family, who live in the historic town of Alatri, with a population of about 30,000, are struggling to contain the attention surrounding Lorenzo’s breakthrough.

“We are living through very beautiful moments at the moment,” said Piero. “We are a simple family and it is not easy for us to deal with all these emotions, especially after the match against Como.”

His mother Graziella added: “All our fellow citizens are very happy for us. Here in Alatri, they absolutely adore Lorenzo. Some even come to our house to meet him.”

“I get real goosebumps when I see people in the street wearing a Palmisani shirt. But he must never become arrogant. I am certain that will not happen. He excelled at school, received a technical education and we never had any problems with him.”

Only two years ago, few people in Alatri wore his shirt. Palmisani was playing in Serie C on loan at Lucchese, after a difficult previous loan at Olbia.

“We were worried about him,” Piero recalled. “Things did not go well at Olbia and it was a difficult experience in Lucca. Then Frosinone decided to give him the chance to develop with the first team.”

Palmisani joined Frosinone from youth club Mole Bisleti at the age of nine. His parents introduced him to football: Piero coached a small women’s team in Alatri, where Graziella played in goal.

Lorenzo initially preferred midfield, but in 2013 he joined Frosinone’s academy after insisting he wanted to become a goalkeeper. He did not receive his chance with “I Canarini” until he was 20.

He seized it last season, helping Frosinone earn promotion to Serie A after finishing second in Serie B. Palmisani kept 15 clean sheets in 38 matches and ended the campaign with a save percentage of more than 80%.

His reward was a Serie A debut against Juventus, followed by approaches from Italy’s youth coach and interim senior manager Silvio Baldini, although he has yet to win his first cap.

Juventus, his family’s club and Buffon’s former side, are reportedly interested, as are Inter.

“Juventus is obviously a dream,” said Piero. “For us, the most important thing is that our son is always happy. But yes, Juventus comes first, then everything else. That has always been the way in our family: Juventus first, everything else afterwards.”