Fleming discovered it by chance while studying mold: the Juventus player was at risk of going moldy on the bench and was on the transfer list, but then two games as a starter turned everything around. Forty years ago, Napoli also found the active ingredient that led to their first league title in Serie B: it was Francesco Romano, one of Maradona’s favorites.

He was at risk of going stale on the bench, waiting to be transferred in January. Instead, almost by chance, after Conceiçao’s injury, it turned out that Fabio Miretti was the right ingredient to heal Juventus. I used the word “go stale” on purpose. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin almost by accident while studying mold. History moves forward like this, stumbling upon the unexpected, and so does soccer. Exactly 40 years ago, Napoli fished out of Serie B (Triestina) the active ingredient that led to their first championship: Francesco Romano. With Pecci gone, Ottavio Bianchi considered Falcao, Barbas… He needed a man of order behind the Ma-Gi-Ca. In the transfer market, he chose the curly-haired player who had grown up at Milan. One of Serie B… But even mold did not seem to be the premise for a historic invention. Maradona immediately fell in love with Romano’s tactical intelligence and called him Tota, like his mother. He was the small mechanism, hidden in the case, that powered the luxurious watch.

And so it is Miretti, placed alongside another 10 (Yildiz), also during the current season. The technical bridge that was missing between midfield and attack. It couldn’t be Locatelli, lacking grace in the finish, nor McKennie, a raider. Miretti has the timing to get involved (goal against Sassuolo) and the light to dictate (assist against Cremonese). Two games as a starter to get him off the market. He is the symbol of Spalletti’s Juve, which has brought technical quality back to power after Allegri’s sad three-year spell and the subsequent hardships. Is Miretti an active ingredient in the Scudetto? It’s too early to say. But let those who already rule him out cast the first stone.