Liberato Cacace (2000) is flying the Kiwi flag high in Italy

Liberato Cacace (2000) is flying the Kiwi flag high in Italy.

Having impressed at New Zealand’s only A-League club, Wellington Phoenix, he earned a move to Europe in 2020. After spending a year and a half at Sint-Truiden in Belgium, he was picked up by Serie A side Empoli. Throughout this steep progression, the young left-back has held his own.

Cacace is a tidy player in possession who can help progress the ball down the flank and get forward if needed, but what has stood out in his time at regular relegation-battlers Empoli is his excellent defensive work rate.

His efforts have seen our model recognize his very high defensive quantity with ratings of 96 and 98 in the two most recent campaigns, providing a lot of upside to his team out of possession.

By Neel Shelat