View attachment 296648Tuesday, 12 May 2015 9pm-ish
"Andrea, how was your flight?" I asked. "Alberico, I hope the limo ride from Milan was good?"
We all shook hands and sat down in the back of my favorite restaurant. I'd flown Andrea Russotto up from Catanzaro, Calabria and had a limo service pick up his agent outside of Milan. I wanted to make sure Andrea wanted to play for the Rossoblu. We'd spent a considerable amount of time scouting him and if tonight went well, we'd pull the trigger on buying him. It was a bit complex, Parma co-owned him but our scouts were pretty confident we could get the whole deal done for around EU 2 million.
"This is my favorite restaurant and I can testify that it's all good," I said as they looked over their menus.
"Antonio sends his greetings," I said once we'd ordered. I bought Antonio Vacca from Catanzaro in January.
"Hah, yes," Andrea said. "We've stayed in contact."
"Well, let's get right to it," I said after we'd exchanged a few more pleasantries. "Andrea, I believe that you are absolutely wasted in Serie C but I couldn't afford to buy you this January. I love your flamboyant style on the wing and I brought you here to talk about my vision and philosophy here at Bologna."
"First, we pressure high up the pitch, defend from the front in a rather English manner," I continued.
"I love watching the Premier League in England," he interjected. "You managed in London, right? Wimbledon?"
"Yes, right, so you've got the idea of the aggressive harassing I want my forward players to do," I said. "We keep the ball a lot. I think we'll be able to hold our own initially in Serie A possession-wise and eventually begin to keep the ball once we're not over-awed any longer. I play with three forwards. A central striker and two wingers. The wingers are responsible for marking the fullbacks. You're okay doing that?"
"Sure, I guess," he shrugged. I'm guessing he'd never been asked to.
"One of the reasons I want you in my side is that you bring a level of determination I really admire," I continued. "You play with a hunger and I'm trying to fill the team with players cut from the same cloth. Or youth team players who I coached when I managed the youth team. Do you have any questions I can answer? Anything you or Alberico want to talk about?"
Our first course arrived.
"Antonio says that you are a cruel man on the training pitch," Andrea said. "Morning practice, lunch then afternoon practice."
"Yes, that I am," I replied and gave him my smile that I've been told scares people.
"I don't mean to speak poorly of my manager," he said. "But it's very different and laid back with him and he doesn't really do much teaching or anything. Not like you. Or that's at least according to Antonio."
"Well, I'm intense and I want my squad to be very intense and unpleasant to play against," I replied. "I demand a very high level of fitness. We got a dietician to make sure you're eating right, yoga to prevent injuries, an acupuncturist, a chiropractor. You've seen the facilities at Casteldelbole, right?"
"Yes, Graziano showed us everything," Andrea replied. "Very nice."
"Me and my coaches want you to know why we're doing a drill," I continued. "We want you to completely understand our system and how we'll implement it with you in the starting eleven. We want your training to be intense, focused and productive. If you become a better player, think better, think quicker, react better, read the game better, we win more games. At the Serie A level, we need to out-think our opponents. I want you prepared for any situation you might face so you can create the best solution."
"Acupuncture?" he asked.
"Never had it?" I asked. He shook his head no. "It doesn't hurt at all. The acupuncturist places the needle in a spot that will, for example, force the muscle to expand and relax allowing any toxins or lactic acid to flow out. You feel GREAT afterwards. I wished I'd gotten some when I was still playing. It might've extended my career."
"I've got a question for you," I said. "I've got a pack of boys and young men coming through with huge potential. Wingers. I expect you to work with them, mentor them and that sort of thing. Any problems with that?"
"No, not at all," he replied.
"Alberico, any questions or anything you'd like to say?" I asked.
"No, I'm good," he said. "I've told your scouts what we'd want for compensation so I'll be ready to talk once Parma and Catanzaro have agreed to fees."
