By Zach LowyBorn on November 10, 1997, Dimarco joined Inter Milan’s academy in 2004 and ascended the ranks for club and country before making his first-team debut in 2014.Loan spells with Serie B side Ascoli and newly promoted Serie A side Empoli would follow before Dimarco started a new adventure with Sion, but he lasted just one year in Switzerland before Inter triggered their €7 million buyback option and sent him on loan to Parma. It was here where Dimarco, still shaken from suffering relegation at Empoli, started to take his first footsteps towards becoming one of the best players in Serie A and a player who has scored three goals and recorded 10 assists in 38 caps for Italy. And it was here where he scored the first goal of his career, picking up the ball from the halfway line before taking aim from 30 yards out and detonating a thunderbolt past Inter’s Samir Handanović.He then moved to Hellas Verona, where he established himself as a buccaneering wingback: having registered seven goal contributions in his first six seasons in professional football, Dimarco provided five goals and five assists in 2020/21 before returning to Inter. He took to new manager Simone Inzaghi’s system like a duck to water, helping the Nerazzurri claim the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana and consistently showcasing his fearless determination in physical duels and his willingness to push forward and overlap on the left flank. And with Ivan Perišić departing for Tottenham Hotspur in 2022, Dimarco emerged as one of the first names on Inzaghi’s team sheet, more than doubling the previous season’s tally with six goals and 10 assists in 50 appearances in 2022/23.Dimarco’s player traits compared to similar players in top 5 leaguesDimarco brought his A-Game for the biggest occasions, opening the scoring in the Supercoppa Italiana Final vs. Milan and their Coppa Italia semifinal vs. Juventus (winning both competitions) and assisting against Barcelona, Viktoria Plzeň, Benfica and Milan in Inter’s run to the UEFA Champions League Final, where he very nearly equalised vs. Manchester City, only for his header to find the crossbar and his follow-up to find teammate Romelu Lukaku. He didn’t ruminate on that heartbreaking near-miss in Istanbul; instead, he focused on refining his attributes and helping Inter return to the apex of Italian football after three years, racking up six goals and eight assists in 40 appearances, followed by four goals and 11 assists in 52 appearances the following season.Ultimately, however, he came away emptyhanded in 2024/25 as Inter lost to Milan in the Supercoppa Italiana Final and Coppa Italia semifinal and missed out on the Scudetto to Napoli on the final day. But the most crushing moment undoubtedly came on May 31, as Paris Saint-Germain’s rampant attack laid siege to Dimarco in the Champions League Final, forcing him into a number of careless blunders en route to a 5-0 demolition. Whilst millions across the world lauded PSG’s Nuno Mendes as the best left back in the sport, others turned their attention to his Inter counterpart and questioned: is Federico Dimarco any good?Instead of wallowing in the misery of Munich, Dimarco has spent the past 10 months delivering the best football of his entire career under new manager Christian Chivu. With his right wingback partner Denzel Dumfries missing a considerable chunk of action with an ankle injury, Dimarco has stepped up in every single facet of the game. His crosses have gotten crispier, his tackles have gotten cleaner, his marking has gotten tighter, and his schoolboy errors have started to dwindle. While Dimarco has reached career-high tallies in both goals (seven) and assists (14), he’s also managed to shore the defensive side of his game: he’s making twice as many successful tackles per 90 as last season (1.2 vs. 0.57) and interceptions per 90 (1.09 vs. 0.57), and he’s also winning more possession (0.78 vs. 0.45) in the final third.Dimarco’s defensive numbers in Serie A this season“Dimarco has been the best player in the best team in Italy, and he’s bounced back from the 5-0 loss where many made him the main culprit, which shows incredible mental strength,” stated Swedish journalist Siavoush Fallahi. “He has a special left foot and can both curl it like David Beckham and hit the ball hard. He can shoot from distance and cross it, using both precision and power, and he puts it hard on the ground and precisely in the air. He’s very good in the build-up, his goal-scoring numbers are incredible for a wingback, and his defending has improved a lot these last few years. And whereas Inzaghi used to sub him out, he’s playing a lot more full 90s under Chivu.”Dimarco’s passing numbers in Serie A this seasonOther players would have shrivelled from the disappointment of losing on penalties to Bosnia & Herzegovina and missing out on a spot in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But not Dimarco. Instead, he served up a sensational display at the San Siro, relentlessly winning the ball back in dangerous areas, testing Mile Svilar’s resolve with low, driven shots, and whipping in an array of gilt-edged crosses into the box as Inter thrashed Roma 5-2 on Sunday. He’ll be looking to build on his momentum against Como and Cagliari before hosting Como in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, having drawn the previous fixture 0-0.Inter find themselves seven points clear in the Scudetto race with seven matches remaining, and perhaps no player has been more influential than Dimarco. He’s provided twice as many assists as any other player in Serie A, whilst only teammate Lautaro Martínez has as many goal contributions (20).He’s created 29 big chances and 83 chances this season, putting him 13 above second-placed Charles De Ketelaere and Kenan Yıldız, whilst he’s also registering more Expected Assists (9.1) than anyone else.Dimarco (7.8) is FotMob’s second-highest rated player in Serie A after Hakan Çalhanoğlu (7.82), and his eight Player of the Match awards sit atop the leaderboards alongside Mike Maignan. There can be no more doubt: Federico Dimarco is one of the best left backs in world football, and all signs point to him spearheading his boyhood club to at least one more trophy this spring.(Cover image from IMAGO)You can follow every Inter game with FotMob – with in-depth stat coverage including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.