The former midfielder brought to London by Luca, then his decline in Italy: “With the Rossoneri he sentenced me to a match against Real Madrid. But what evenings in Milan with Borriello…”
“Golden boy” in name, in fact and also by his hairstyle, because his long golden hair floated in midfield mixing with the English drizzle. There was a time when Samuele Dalla Bona was the future of the Italian midfielder, the star of the Blues, the young hope who at 44 years old retraces his sporting life with honesty and coherence. The boy who grew up in Zingonia whose life Gianluca Vialli changed: “So, what have you decided? Are you coming to Chelsea?”.
Sam, impossible to say no.
“I was in Scotland for the Under 16 European Championship, May 1998. I played like a god. After the lost final, I found Vialli next to the bus. “What does he want now?” I thought. I was 16 years old. He told me that Chelsea was looking for strong young players and that he would have wanted me with him.”
But she played for Atalanta. How did it go?
“A mess broke out. I ran away from college on the night of August 15th to go and sign in London.”
Another boy from Zingonia welcomed him at Chelsea.
“Luca Percassi. We lived together in a small flat in Lancaster Gate, opposite Hyde Park. Rain, wind, snow and… football”.
“Traumatic. I didn’t speak a word of English. Chelsea gave us a private teacher who didn’t know Italian and had to be sent away. Sometimes I didn’t understand and I cursed at him. Finally, it was difficult to earn the respect of others.”
“I made my debut with Vialli in 2000, but it was Ranieri who gave me confidence. I was eighteen, I was surrounded by people like Hasselbaink, Desailly, Zola, Di Matteo, my friend Cudicini, Wise, Terry. Sometimes someone looked at me and thought: “But who is this one?””.
What did Ranieri tell you instead?
“In two years I have never heard him say “well done”, but he was fundamental, a mentor. And also Vialli. Before his debut he called me while he was in the bathroom, on the toilet, and told me that he would take me with him against Coventry. I was a bit embarrassed”.
First team anecdotes?
“Once we attended a masquerade party outside London. The next day Ranieri asked me: “Ah, what have you done?”. We were stunned. At Chelsea there were no retreats or diets. We Italians ate bresaola and risotto, the English and foreigners everything. I still remember Hasselbaink’s carbonara before an important match. Ranieri asked him what he was doing. And he said: “Don’t worry, I’ll score anyway”.
Regret leaving London?
“Yes. It was a different type of football, freer, without pressure. Panucci and Ranieri had warned me not to return. However, in 2001 I rejected an offer from Venezia and the club left me out of the squad. After two months Claudio reinstated me, but at the end of the season I left. I still think about it today: I should have stayed there for life.”
It’s difficult to say no to Ancelotti’s Milan.
“Braida told me at 11 that he would be at Stamford Bridge for Chelsea-Fulham. Pushed by his family, agent and friends, I accepted.”
Only 16 games, though. What went wrong?
“The match against Real, played as a starter at the Bernabeu, left its mark on me. I played for a while, and badly. Ancelotti lined me up as a right winger, in front of me I had Roberto Carlos who was going for three thousand. I got a yellow card after a quarter of an hour and then I went out. It was a test. If I had passed, then ok, I would have continued. Unfortunately, Italian football is this stuff. You are judged immediately.”
A few years ago she said that Italian football “disgusted” her.
“Maybe I exaggerated, but what goes around in this world is harmful, harmful. Here one day you’re poor, another day you’re the best. And that yes, it sucks.”
In 2003 he was European champion.
“I saw the final with Juventus from the stands. I remember an argument between Inzaghi and Sheva during the finishing, they got into bad words. Maldini approached him and told him to stop. A real captain, he always intimidated me a bit, I’m telling the truth. Pippo, on the other hand, was a cannibal: before the final he tried out the movements alone on a golf course.”
Bologna, Lecce, then Napoli. How did it go there?
“One year at the top, the other two as an outcast. In 2006-07 we achieved promotion to Serie A, I was a starter, then I never played again. In the summer I rejected Birmingham on the last day of the transfer market. I sent them to hell because they had made fun of me, Reja first and foremost. And in January Cagliari showed up: they didn’t let me go.”
It was written at the time that you had fallen into depression due to the death of your father.
“Never true: in 2011 I had already decided to stop. I chose a team closer to home to be close to him, yes, but after his funeral I went to train in Mantua.”
Why did you stop at 31?
“I didn’t like that world.”
Has football abandoned you?
“A little, but I could have done more. I’m honest. And I paid for it.”
A career madness?
“One summer, out of nowhere, I said: “I want to spend three months at Bobo Vieri”. Parties and discos. I must have spent 50 thousand euros. The bank feared that they had cloned my card. And then, to be honest, I have always liked women: I had two great loves, then I had fun. At Milan I was in the room with Borriello, the handsome man of the group, and we went out together. “Leave me one, bomber”, I repeated to him. It was going well.”
What are you doing today?
“I have invested in houses and I have land. I would like to be an observer, they say I have an eye. But now that we have talked about everything I would like to say one thing…”.
“I had a journalist friend in Gazzetta, Roberto Pelucchi. He died three years ago. It was true. Like me.”
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