The former midfielder: “I had to go to the doubles or I would be recommended. I also said no to Spalletti and Ranieri, I have no regrets, Cagliari was my national team”
The first thirty seconds of the phone call are enough to trace the boundaries of his life. “I feel Roman and Sardinian at the same time. I will always be linked to Rome, but Cagliari is my home. This land has adopted me”. The chat with Daniele Conti begins like this. Then we travel. From the memories with dad Bruno to the love for Cagliari, first as captain on the pitch and then as manager of the youth sector. They have been 23 intense years, made up of great meetings, illustrious refusals and gestures from times gone by. “I said no to many offers, without ever looking at the zeros in the contracts. I also rejected Spalletti’s Roma: the idea of leaving Sardinia made me feel bad.”
Was moving away from Rome and the comparisons with your father the key to making it in football?
“Absolutely. Having a father like that was uncomfortable. You have to go twice as hard as the others to get rid of the label of recommended and “son of”. Then in Rome, it was even worse. I made my debut in Serie A with the Giallorossi, but then I was happy to leave. I needed to make my own journey.”
Football has always been part of your family life. It is passed down from generation to generation. A memory about Bruno Conti as a player?
“He always took me to the dressing room, from a very young age. Once the president Dino Viola asked me what shirt I would like to see my father wear, which at the time was out of contract. I told him that I would choose Napoli, because Maradona was there. Two hours later he had already renewed his contract.”
Was your father also “inconvenient” in his choices?
“Never, in fact the opposite. Dad and I always talked little about football. He only scolded me about the cards. “You get too many, Danielì…”, he told me.”
There is also an image of his father on the bench covering his face after his goal against Roma.
“I think he did it after all 5 of my goals. I often scored against the Giallorossi, but I never did it out of a spirit of revenge or anything else. Over the years I have felt and suffered all kinds of things.”
Like when they booed you at the Olimpico?
“They blamed me for having celebrated too much in the away section. But I don’t regret anything, the people of Cagliari are my people and I represented them at that moment. Roma, my father and everything else had nothing to do with it. They called me a traitor, but mine was simply unconditional love for a land.”
He could have ended up at Roma a few years later.
“Yes, a manager called me. Spalletti was on the bench and I know he would have wanted me. But the idea of leaving Sardinia made me feel bad. I couldn’t even listen to the offers that came in.”
Have you ever had any regrets? Maybe in a big club he would have played for a place in the national team.
“Cagliari has always been my national team. I could go to Naples, Florence, Germany. I had so many opportunities. One year Ranieri called me and wanted to take me to Monaco. ‘But how can I leave these people,’ I told him. I knew he could understand me.”
He played for sixteen years in the rossoblù, collecting 464 matches. They farewelled with relegation to Serie B in 2015.
“I would have liked to end in a different way, I felt bad for Cagliari and for our fans. I didn’t celebrate because there was nothing to celebrate. It was a sad day for Sardinia, not for me to stop.”
Did you have any temptations after Cagliari?
“The United States. There was a chance to go and play there and I would have liked it. But in hindsight I’m happy to have tied my career to one shirt.”
She was one of the last flags: today a very rare commodity…
“I’m proud of it. Cagliari is my home and will always be.”
It was Cellino who brought it to Sardinia. A flash?
“He always had faith in me. Even at the beginning when I was struggling on the pitch and they even looked at me badly on the street. It seemed like I had killed someone. The president defended me on every occasion. Then he was particular, obsessed with superstition. Once I played with a pair of purple shoes, he came to me and said: “If we lose I’ll burn them”. We won, but I never wore them again for safety.”
For six years – from 2008 to 2014 – he had Davide Astori as his partner. His passing shocked the world of football.
“It was hard. Davide and I were very close, I still feel with his brothers. A special boy, full of passion. He was a real person like I like them. It was the nature of the captain…”.
Nainggolan was also in that team.
“A fury, Radja was truly unstoppable. He came to us young but very aware of his abilities. He still made many mistakes, however. How many speeches I gave him: it was like he was a younger brother. I didn’t want him to waste the immense talent he had and I tried to make him understand.”
In 2023 he left Cagliari after seven years as head of the youth sector. Was it his choice?
“Yes, no one sent me away. I felt I had reached the end of a journey.”
And what is Daniele Conti doing today?
“In Cagliari I worked a lot with young people and I understood how difficult it is to think together. When you play you don’t realize it. For now I’m enjoying my family. Then in the future we’ll see…”.
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