Burheim's journal.
Burheim's journal.
So, first of all, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Are Burheim, and I an a professional footballer, currently playing for Torino. Since we have quite a bit of time on our hands between practices, I've decided to create a blog! But for my readers to be able to get to know me, I've got to get back to the start!
I was born in Milan, and I've lived in Italy my whole life. My dad was a football-crazy Milan fan, so from a young age I was brought to the San Siro to watch the Rossoneri home games. I still remember that horrible night in 2005, and the glorious evening in 2007 when Liverpool finally got what they deserved. My mom works for a fashion company in Milan, but is originally from Norway. She always talked about Norway at home, and made me eat brown cheese every week!
It was always my dad's dream that I one day would play for A.C. Milan, so it was a tough hit to him when I was not accepted into their academy as a teenager. However, when I was 15, Torino made a call to my parents, offering me a place after I impressed in a youth tournament. So, after a bit of back and forth, I made the (not so long) journey to Turin to start training with the former giants.
View attachment 828095My coach told me that he was impressed my my fitness at a young age, and that I should keep up my playing style of always trying to look for the decisive pass. However, already my first week, I was told to put in some extra training on evenings, as I could always pick a pass in warm-ups and from set pieces, but I really struggled to keep my composure in practice games.
My first season at Torino was a bit of a struggle. I featured every second week in the youth team, and even made my debut for the senior squad in 2 cup games. I got on very well with a couple of new recruits, especially Aaron Ryan, an Englishman that I seemed to always be able to find with my through balls. However, competition in the midfield was really rough. There were especially two players that I struggled to keep my spot from, Mike Majic and Charley Mason. Mike is from Haiti of all places. I've never heard of a single player from Haiti, so I have no idea how he could have gotten this good. Charley is another Englishman, and they always seemed to be put in the opposite team from me. I ran my *** off every single practice, chasing the ball, but the rest of the youth team was only decent, so it was a real pain in the ****.
As I turned 17 and was getting ready for another season, I got a call from the u19 coach. He told med that Aberdeen had made an offer to loan me for the whole season, and that Torino had accepted. I had no choice but to go along with it, but why oh why did I have to move to Scotland of all places. I had my mom knit me 10 woolen jumpers, and got on the plane.
View attachment 277983The year in Scotland was horrible. I had no idea what the coaches were telling me, and I didn't understand a single word of what the other players said. I kept training with the senior squad, but the manager never seemed to pick me for the games. All in all it was a very frustrating time, but I put in a lot of extra effort to try to cope with the physical game they play in Scotland.
One pleasing thing was that I got a call from the u19 manager of Italy, and was called up for qualifying games. I finally got to talk Italian again, and play proper football. I gave my agent a strict note that I was not to accept any move north of France for the next season.
As I turned 18, I got myself a small apartment in the centre of Turin, and I finally got to see my mates again. They had all had more playing time than me, and I struggled to keep up at practices. I realized how wasted my year in Scotland had been. Aaron had played first team football at Vicenza, and seemed a step ahead of me all the time, I just couldn't find the passes that I used to. I feared the worst when I got the call from my agent, but I was surprised to hear that Stade de Reims wanted me for the season. He assured me that they had big plans for me, and that I would get to play, so again I headed abroad. I wanted to ask the other guys if they would rent my apartment, but all of them also headed elsewhere, so I had to rent it out to some party-freak from Germany.
My time at Reims was brilliant. From the first minute, I felt they put faith in me. I was helped by players that could translate French, and I got lots of playing time. Finally I was happy playing again, and I could find those impossible through passes again. I was really sad to leave France at the end of the season, but I couldn't wait to show my mates what I could do!
View attachment 828105As we met again for the first time in a year, I could see that the year had been very good to me. I was dominating at practices, and for the first time we were all playing together, completely crushing the other team in practice if we got the chance. Mike told me about his year, and that he had spent almost half the year flying back and forth to the Caribbean to play for Haiti. I couldn't believe he had already played over 30 times for the national squad. And at only 19?? Me and Aaron had actually met a couple of times during the year, as we both were called up, and played for the Italian u21's. I had no idea Aaron had an Italian mother, so it was a bit of a surprise when I saw him in the squad.
Torino did not have a good season, so I hoped that all of us youngsters were in for a shot at making the senior squad, but it turns out that only Aaron got to stay in Turin. Mike headed to Nice, Charley to Grosseto, and I got a call from Holland where AZ, who had just come second in the Eresdivisie, wanted me to come on loan. A possibility of Champions League football... what an opportunity! I phoned up my agent and urged him to accept.
View attachment 277978
It turns out Champions League was only a hope. AZ lost to Sampdoria in the playoffs, and ended up in the Europa League. I did get to experience European football, as I got 2 games in the group stages, but we lost out to Schalke 04 in the knockout stages.
AZ was really a new experience for me. The training sessions were always focused on maximum quality, and we were pushed to our limits every single day. I am in better shape than I have ever been, and I got to play about half our our league games. I really hope I can come back here, or get to train with a team like this again, as I feel I've made huge progress. Now, who knows what the next season brings, but I feel I have a great shot at making a breakthrough this year. Torino had a poor season, ending in 16th, so what have they got to lose by putting faith in us youngsters?
I'm sorry if this has been a wall of text, but I really didn't have anything to do before this evenings practice. Mike has promised me he'll teach me a few tricks when it comes to taking free-kicks, and I promised to help Aaron with his overhead kicks, so it's bound to be a late evening! Until next time!