Jari Vandeputte

Key strength: Work rate

Box-to-box midfielder

In the volatile cauldron of Italy's second tier, where survival narratives are written in sweat and desperation, US Cremonese occupy 8th place but find themselves on a treacherous LWWLL rollercoaster. Amid the turbulence, one constant remains: Jari Vandeputte. The 30-year-old Belgian midfielder, valued at €3.3m, has been an ever-present force with 27 appearances and 1,753 minutes—rare availability in a campaign where consistency is currency. Wearing the #27 shirt, Vandeputte operates as a creative playmaker, his 57-rated vision threading passes through congested midfield blocks while his modest return of 1 goal and 5 assists belies his true influence. While headlines orbit around 75-rated striker Andrea Pinamonti and Croatian playmaker Lovro Majer, Vandeputte provides the tactical scaffolding—the metronomic heartbeat that knits defense to attack. His box-to-box intelligence and 2 yellow cards across nearly 20 hours of football speak to a discipline essential for any survival scrap. In a league of razor-thin margins, Vandeputte's quiet reliability could yet prove the difference between despair and deliverance for the Grigiorossi.