Paul Mendy has enormous potential – Cagliari coach Pisacane

Senegal youngster Paul Mendy has received praise from his Cagliari manager Fabio Pisacane after the forward scored two goals on his first professional start to give Cagliari a crucial 3-2 Serie A victory over Atalanta on Monday.

It took only fifteen seconds for the 19-year-old to strike for the hosts at the Unipol Domus in Sardinia. Mendy got on the end of a perfect cross from Michel Adopo to head low past Atalanta keeper Marco Carnesecchi and send Gli Isolani supporters into delirium.

 

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Needing a positive result to quell relegation fears, the Rufisque native rose to the occasion again seven minutes later. When a corner kick was allowed to drop in the Atalanta box, Mendy pounced during the chaos and his shot took a big deflection past Carnesecchi to double the advantage.

‘I love developing young players’

“If the club chose me for a difficult mission, it’s also because I don’t rely on my status and I love developing young players. Mendy has come from the other side of the world, he has enormous potential, but he must remain vigilant because football can be deceptive,” Pisacane told DAZN after the match.

“Your assessment of Mendy after the match against Inter Milan wasn’t good, and that’s what makes football so beautiful. In less than eight days, your opinion of the player changes. You even think he could have played sooner.”

He added: “I’d like to come back to this point: I think these (young) players need to make mistakes first to achieve a performance like tonight’s. And when they make mistakes, we must avoid demotivating them.

“This is a reminder for everyone, because this generation reads and watches you closely, and it’s normal that when you make assessments with the aim of creating a buzz, it becomes a problem. Tonight, I felt that it might be his game, and as I said, I was right.”

‘I was a little bit surprised’

Speaking on his debut, Mendy said: “I’m delighted, but the most important thing is this victory which could save us from relegation. My goal wasn’t a fluke; it’s something we worked on with the coach in training.

“When I was told I would be starting, I was a little surprised, but my desire to help the team by using my skills was stronger.”

With such a performance, Mendy became the third youngest player to score a brace on his Serie A debut since a win is worth three points.

He is just behind Francesco Grandolfo (18 years, 300 days) and Lorenzo Venturino (18 years, 336 days). Unfortunately, his match ended at halftime after the youngster suffered a hamstring strain.