Anyone over 30 will tell you that it’s odd to look back to the time when you were 21. At that age, the world is suddenly laid out in front of you; now you are an adult and expected to make important decisions that will have an impact on the rest of your life.

They say hindsight is a wonderful thing, and on reflection, many of us now realize that we weren’t as mature as we thought we were back then. It’s a time when you think you’ve made it, you think you know everything, but in actual fact that’s far from the case.

Fiorentina winger Federico Chiesa is 21. 

This youngster has already dealt with huge expectations, which started before he even kicked a ball for the first team. His father Enrico was a former Italy international and a household name during the 1990s, winning trophies with Sampdoria, Parma, and Fiorentina.

Yet it wasn’t his famous father’s reputation that allowed Federico to make his first-team debut at the age of just 19, more that then-boss Paulo Sousa recognized his sublime natural talent. His selection in the lineup for the opening match of the 2016-17 campaign—away at Juventus no less—came purely through his own merit, but in reality the hard work had only just begun.

At the end of that season, the Fiorentina owners failed to offer Sousa a new contract, as well as selling almost all of the long-standing players from that squad. In came Stefano Pioli as coach, and young Federico was suddenly thrust into the role of talisman for the newly-formed young side. That summer, the winger was featured prominently in the Calcio Storico-themed kit launch that included four colors for each quarter of the city, and anyone who knows Florence will understand what a genuine honor that was.

Chiesa quickly bonded with Pioli, the new man in charge having been hand-selected by sporting director Pantaleo Corvino for his previous fine work in developing young players. Supporters can’t have failed to notice that the coach would be hollering instructions from the sidelines towards the prodigy, only for the pair to embrace warmly whenever Chiesa was substituted. 

No one could’ve predicted that the captain Davide Astori would suddenly lose his life in March of that year either, an event that turned everything upside-down for Pioli and all of his players. Just like the rest of the squad, Chiesa was hit hard by the tragedy, an event that a player so young should never have had to face.

“There aren’t many minutes of the day where I don’t think about Astori and what he told me,” Chiesa told Sky Italia last October. “Above all, though, it’s what he transmitted, because when I first joined the senior team, he was the first to come and talk to me. Davide was a very pure person. He was a captain, a pure leader and an example for everyone.”

It is clear that Chiesa has had in mind to follow that example ever since, and has seen his own performance levels drop as he has tried almost too hard to let his talent shine as he took on the burdens of a side that has struggled to find their creativity on many occasions this season. 

But the arrival of Luis Muriel in the January transfer window—another genius move from Corvino—has lifted that observable weight from the youngster’s shoulders and unlocked his explosive potential. Unlike the equally inexperienced Marko Pjaca (23) and Giovanni Simone (22), the 27-year-old Colombian Muriel provides a veteran example for Chiesa to follow, a player who routinely makes the right decision on whether to shoot, pass or dribble.

What. A. Performance. ? ? ?#FloFC pic.twitter.com/v4pRpxYqhx

— FloFC (@FloFC_) January 30, 2019

Chiesa had struggled with those options in the past but now has 10 goals in all competitions, an incredible seven of which have come in the four matches since Muriel joined the team. His hat-trick and performance in Wednesday evening’s 7-1 thrashing of A.S. Roma was the culmination of this recent vein of form, and it was no surprise that Pioli raced down the touchline to be the first to celebrate that third strike with him, the pair both with tears in their eyes. 

It was easy to read Chiesa’s lips as he looked up to the sky, almost sobbing with the emotion of the moment. “É tuo, Davide,” he said in tribute to the former captain — "It's yours, Davide."

? It’s important to remember that these guys must still be grieving. #DA13 https://t.co/ocd8l8T5Y2

— Chloe Beresford (@ChloeJBeresford) January 30, 2019

He may be “only” 21 years old, but Federico Chiesa has been through more than most could even imagine at that age, his experience and sublime talent having molded him into a mature young man with so much in front of him.

Chloe Beresford specializes in Serie A for a number of outlets and can be found on Twitter and on Facebook via her page CalcioByChloe.