De Rossi praises Austrian youngster: "We will give him a chance"

Left-back David Puczka (21) moved from Juventus to Genoa in the summer for six million euros.

Under Italy legend Daniele De Rossi, the former second-division professional (30 games for Admira Wacker) could achieve a breakthrough in Serie A.

The coach definitely wants to give him a chance. "I think he can do it. Sometimes I have inspirations that turn out to be complete nonsense. But when I imagine him in a top team, I see him as a wing-back. He knows how to defend. I thought he was smaller, but he is strongly built. He possesses technical skills and a good shot, but still needs to work on his defensive qualities," the former striker described his protégé to "Buancalciotutti".

Puczka Can Compete

He can, however, quickly improve his defensive abilities. Furthermore, the Austrian is the only left-footed alternative to John Vasquez.

"We will give him a chance. Compared to Vogliacco, Doucouré, and Klisys, he showed in the second half that he is in no way inferior to the others," De Rossi said about the friendly match against Leicester City.

Stolz Being Evaluated

However, the left-back is not the only Austrian in the squad. Franz Stolz (25) has returned from his GAK loan spell.

"We are continuing to evaluate him. We only decided late to keep him because we initially didn't know what Leali's plan was, and we wanted to give him time to decide," De Rossi said about Stolz.

Nicola Leali lost his starting spot to Justin Bijlow last season; he recently moved to Hellas Verona.

Stolz had "performed well" in Austria. "It is our job to carefully evaluate him and decide whether we sign another goalkeeper or continue with the current situation. The evaluation is still ongoing, and I am not making this decision alone," the coach added.